Multiple TBS for Msg3 in Data Transmission During Random Access

ABSTRACT

A base station transmits a resource grant indicating a plurality of options from which a wireless device is permitted to select for use in transmitting user data on an uplink during random access. Each respective option comprises a transport block size (TBS) and a number of repetitions. One of the TBSs is a maximum permitted TBS and the other TBSs are derived from the maximum permitted TBS using a predefined set of smaller TBS values. The number of repetitions of each option is determined as a function of the maximum permitted TBS and a corresponding number of repetitions. The wireless device receives the resource grant and transmits the user data on the uplink during random access to the base station according to at least one of the options. The base station receives the user data on the uplink during random access correspondingly.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.16/963,041, which was filed on 17 Jul. 2020, which is the national stageapplication of International Patent Application PCT/EP2019/050110, whichwas filed 3 Jan. 2019, and claims priority to U.S. Provisional PatentApplication 62/621,527, filed 24 Jan. 2018, the disclosure of each ofwhich is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure generally relates to the field of wirelesscommunication networks, and more particularly relates to signalling insupport of random access to a base station by a wireless device.

BACKGROUND

The Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) has worked on specifyingtechnologies pertaining to wireless networks, e.g., to coverMachine-to-Machine (M2M) and/or Internet of Things (IoT) related usecases. Recent work for 3GPP Release 13 and 14 includes enhancements tosupport Machine-Type Communications (MTC) with new User Equipment (UE)categories (Category M1 (Cat-M1), Category M2 (Cat-M2)), supportingreduced bandwidth of up to 6 and 24 physical resource blocks (PRBs), andNarrowband IoT (NB-IoT) UEs providing a new radio interface (and UEcategories Cat-NB1 and Cat-NB2).

Despite the evolution of 3GPP standards to accommodate new use cases,many wireless devices will continue to use some form of random access inorder to obtain access to the wireless network. Accordingly, solutionsthat improve random access procedures, the entities participatingtherein, and/or the systems relying thereon are likely to continue to behighly desired.

SUMMARY

Embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to a base stationthat enables a wireless device (e.g., user equipment) to transmit userdata on an uplink during random access. The base station transmits aresource grant indicating a plurality of options from which the wirelessdevice is permitted to select for use in transmitting the user data onthe uplink during random access. Each respective option comprises atransport block size; and a number of resource units and/or physicalresource blocks. The wireless device receives the resource grant, andtransmits the user data on the uplink during random access to the basestation according to at least one of the options.

More specifically, embodiments of the present disclosure include amethod performed by a wireless device for transmitting user data on anuplink during random access. The method comprises receiving a resourcegrant indicating a plurality of options for the transmitting of the userdata on the uplink during random access. Each respective optioncomprises a transport block size, and a number of resource units,repetitions, and/or physical resource blocks corresponding to thetransport block size. The method further comprises transmitting the userdata on the uplink during random access to a base station according toat least one of the options.

In some embodiments, receiving the resource grant indicating theplurality of options comprises receiving a modulation and coding schemeindex indicating the plurality of options. In some such embodiments themodulation and coding scheme index comprises at least five bits. In someadditional or alternative embodiments, receiving the modulation andcoding scheme index comprises deriving at least part of the modulationand coding scheme index from an uplink carrier spacing field.Additionally or alternatively, receiving the modulation and codingscheme index comprises deriving at least part of the modulation andcoding scheme index from a subcarrier spacing field.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises receiving a timeoffset index indicating an amount of time between transmission starttimes respectively corresponding to the random access transmissionoptions.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises receiving a frequencyoffset index indicating an amount of frequency between transmissionfrequencies respectively corresponding to the options.

In some embodiments, transmitting the user data on the uplink during therandom access is in response to selecting at least one of the optionsfrom the plurality of options.

In some embodiments, receiving the resource grant indicating theplurality of options comprises receiving the resource grant in a Msg2 ofthe random access.

In some embodiments, transmitting the user data on the uplink during therandom access to the base station according to the at least one of theoptions comprises transmitting the user data in a Msg3 of the randomaccess.

In some embodiments, the plurality of options are a subset of aplurality of predefined options for the transmitting of the user data onthe uplink during random access, and the method further comprisesreceiving an indication of how many options are in the subset. In somesuch embodiments, receiving the indication of how many options are inthe subset comprises receiving the indication via cell-specificsignalling. In some additional or alternative embodiments, receiving theindication of how many options are in the subset comprises receiving theindication in a System Information broadcast.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises receiving at least oneof the options in a System Information broadcast. In some suchembodiments, an option in the at least one of the options in the SystemInformation broadcast comprises a maximum permitted transport blocksize. In some such embodiments,

the resource grant grants the wireless device permission to perform thetransmitting using the maximum permitted transport block size. In someadditional or alternative embodiments, the maximum permitted transportblock size is one of a plurality of predefined candidate valuesavailable for the maximum permitted transport block size. In someadditional or alternative embodiments, the maximum permitted transportblock size is one of a plurality of maximum permitted transport blocksizes received in the System Information broadcast, each correspondingto a respective coverage enhancement level. In some such embodiments,the plurality of options for the transmitting of the user data on theuplink during random access comprises a respective set of one or more ofthe options for each of the coverage enhancement levels.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises using a predefinedformula to calculate a first option of the plurality of options from asecond option of the plurality of options.

Other embodiments include a method performed by a base station forenabling a user equipment to transmit user data on an uplink duringrandom access. The method comprises transmitting a resource grantindicating a plurality of options from which the user equipment ispermitted to select for use in transmitting the user data on the uplinkduring random access. Each respective option comprises a transport blocksize, and a number of resource units and/or physical resource blocks.

In some embodiments, transmitting the resource grant indicating theplurality of options comprises transmitting a modulation and codingscheme index indicating the plurality of options. In some suchembodiments, the modulation and coding scheme index comprises at leastfive bits. Additionally or alternatively, in some embodiments,transmitting the modulation and coding scheme index comprises at leastpartly indicating the modulation and coding scheme index in an uplinkcarrier spacing field. Additionally or alternatively, in someembodiments, transmitting the modulation and coding scheme indexcomprises at least partly indicating the modulation and coding schemeindex in a subcarrier spacing field. Additionally or alternatively, insome embodiments, the method further comprises determining themodulation and coding index based on channel conditions. Additionally oralternative, in some embodiments, the method further comprisesdetermining the modulation and coding index based on a number of Msg3grants supported by the base station. Additionally or alternatively, insome embodiments, the method further comprises determining themodulation and coding index based on a size predefined for transmittingduring random access.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises transmitting a timeoffset index indicating an amount of time between transmission starttimes respectively corresponding to the options.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises transmitting afrequency offset index indicating an amount of frequency betweentransmission frequencies respectively corresponding to the options.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises transmitting theresource grant indicating the plurality of random access transmissionoptions comprises transmitting the resource grant in a Msg2 of therandom access.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises receiving the userdata on the uplink during the random access according to at least one ofthe options. In some such embodiments, receiving the user data on theuplink during the random access comprises receiving the user data in aMsg3 of the random access.

In some embodiments, the plurality of options are a subset of aplurality of predefined options for the transmitting of the user data onthe uplink during random access, and the method further comprisestransmitting an indication of how many options are in the subset. Insome such embodiments, the method further comprises transmitting theindication of how many options are in the subset via cell-specificsignalling.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises transmitting at leastone of the options in a System Information broadcast. In some suchembodiments, an option in the at least one of the options in the SystemInformation broadcast comprises a maximum permitted transport blocksize. In some such embodiments, the resource grant grants the wirelessdevice permission to use the maximum permitted transport block size inthe transmitting of the user data on the uplink during random access.Additionally or alternatively, in some embodiments, the maximumpermitted transport block size is one of a plurality of predefinedcandidate values available for the maximum permitted transport blocksize. Additionally or alternatively, in some embodiments, the maximumpermitted transport block size is one of a plurality of maximumpermitted transport block sizes transmitted in the System Informationbroadcast, each corresponding to a respective coverage enhancementlevel. In some such embodiments, the plurality of options from which theuser equipment is permitted to select for use in the transmitting of theuser data on the uplink during random access comprises a respective setof one or more of the options for each of the coverage enhancementlevels.

Other embodiments include a wireless device for transmitting user dataon an uplink. The wireless device is configured to receive a resourcegrant indicating a plurality of options for the transmitting of the userdata on the uplink during random access. Each respective optioncomprises a transport block size, and a number of resource units,repetitions, and/or physical resource blocks corresponding to thetransport block size. The wireless device is further configured totransmit the user data on the uplink during random access to a basestation according to at least one of the options.

In some embodiments, the wireless device comprises a processor and amemory. The memory contains instructions executable by the processorwhereby the wireless device is operative to perform the receiving andtransmitting.

Additionally or alternatively, in some embodiments, the wireless devicecomprises a receiving module configured to perform the receiving, and atransmitting module configured to perform the transmitting.

In some embodiments, the wireless device is configured to perform any ofthe wireless device methods described above.

Other embodiments include a base station for enabling a user equipmentto transmit user data on an uplink during random access. The basestation is configured to transmit a resource grant indicating aplurality of options from which the user equipment is permitted toselect for use in transmitting the user data on the uplink during randomaccess. Each respective option comprises a transport block size, and anumber of resource units and/or physical resource blocks.

In some embodiments, the base station comprises a processor and amemory. The memory contains instructions executable by the processorwhereby the base station is operative to perform the transmitting.

Additionally or alternatively, in some embodiments, the base stationcomprises a transmitting module configured to perform the transmitting.

In some embodiments, the base station is configured to perform any ofthe base station methods described above.

Other embodiments include a computer program comprising instructionswhich, when executed on at least one processor of a radio node (e.g., awireless device or base station), cause the at least one processor tocarry out any of the methods described above.

Other embodiments include a carrier containing the computer program ofthe preceding claim, wherein the carrier is one of an electronic signal,optical signal, radio signal, or computer readable storage medium.

Any of the embodiments described above may further comprise one or moreof the features described below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Aspects of the present disclosure are illustrated by way of example andare not limited by the accompanying figures with like referencesindicating like elements. In general, the use of a reference numeralshould be regarded as referring to the depicted subject matter accordingto one or more embodiments, whereas discussion of a specific instance ofan illustrated element will append a letter designation thereto (e.g.,discussion of a resource 150, generally, as opposed to discussion ofparticular instances of resources 150 a, 150 b, 150 c).

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example communicationsystem, according to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a signaling diagram illustrating an example Random Access (RA)procedure, according to one or more embodiments of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 3 is a table illustrating example Downlink Control Information(DCI) contents, according to one or more embodiments of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of an example time-frequency grid,according to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIGS. 5 and 6 are flow diagrams illustrating example methods, eachaccording to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIGS. 7 and 8 are schematic block diagrams illustrating an examplewireless device (e.g., UE), according to one or more embodiments of thepresent disclosure.

FIGS. 9 and 10 are schematic block diagrams illustrating an examplenetwork node (e.g., base station, eNB), according to one or moreembodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 11 is a table illustrating example Modulation and Coding Scheme(MCS) indices for Message 3 (Msg3) on a Narrowband Physical UplinkShared Channel (NPUSCH), according to one or more embodiments of thepresent disclosure.

FIGS. 12A-E are schematic block diagrams illustrating respectiveexamples of uplink (UL) resource allocation, according to one or moreembodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 13 is a table illustrating an example of MCS indices for Early DataTransmission (EDT) in Msg3 on an NPUSCH, according to one or moreembodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 14 is a table illustrating an example time offsets, according toone or more embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 15 is a table illustrating example Transport Block Size (TBS)values supported in a cell for user data transmission in Msg3, accordingto one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 16 is a table illustrating example MCS indices and correspondingvalues for EDT in Msg3 on an NPUSCH signalled in a Random AccessResponse (RAR) message, according to one or more embodiments of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 17 is a table illustrating example TBSes for an NPUSCH, accordingto one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 18 is a table illustrating example RAR grant content field size,according to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 19 is a table illustrating an example of values supporting EDT inMsg3 on a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) in which TBS and anexplicit number of repetitions are bundled, according to one or moreembodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 20 is a table illustrating an example of values supporting EDT inMsg3 on a PUSCH in which TBS and an inexplicit number of repetitions arebundled, according to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 21 is a table illustrating an example of values supporting EDT inMsg3 on a PUSCH in which TBS and an explicit number of repetitions arebundled, according to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 22 is a table illustrating an example of TBS values supported in acell for user data transmission in Msg3, according to one or moreembodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 23 is a table illustrating an example of TBSes according to acorresponding number of repetitions, according to one or moreembodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 24 is a schematic block diagram illustrating an example wirelessnetwork, according to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 25 is a schematic block diagram illustrating an example UE,according to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 26 is a schematic block diagram illustrating an example of avirtualization environment, according to one or more embodiments of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 27 is a schematic illustrating an example telecommunicationnetwork, according to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 28 is a schematic block diagram illustrating an examplecommunication system, according to one or more embodiments of thepresent disclosure.

FIGS. 29-32 are flow diagrams, each of which illustrates an examplemethod, according to particular embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 33 is a table illustrating example TBS sizes, according to one ormore embodiments of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 illustrates an example communication system according to one ormore embodiments of the present disclosure. The communication systemcomprises a wireless device 120 (e.g., a UE) and a base station 110 thatwirelessly communicate with each other using an uplink (UL) 130 and adownlink (DL) 140. According to embodiments the base station 110 may bean access node (e.g., an evolved NodeB (eNB)) that provides the UE withaccess to a network and/or the wireless device 120 may be a mobileterminal, an NB-IoT UE, and/or other radio node. For purposes of thisdisclosure, a wireless device 120 is a radio device that performs arandom access procedure to communicate with a base station 110, and abase station 110 is a radio node that supports random access by awireless device 120. Procedures for random access will be discussedfurther below.

Note that although particular embodiments may specifically refer to aUE, the same or substantially similar principles may be applied to awireless device 120 that performs random access to a base station 110,even if the wireless device 120 is not necessarily or commonly referredto as a UE per se. Similarly, although particular embodiments mayspecifically refer to an eNB or network node, the same or substantiallysimilar principles may be applied to a base station 110 that supportsrandom access by a wireless device 120, even if the base station 110 isnot necessarily or commonly referred to as an eNB or network node perse.

The base station 110 provides uplink and downlink grants to the wirelessdevice 120. An uplink grant provides the wireless device 120 withscheduling information to use when transmitting on the uplink 130, andthe wireless device 120 transmits on the uplink 130 in accordance withthe uplink grant. A downlink grant provides the wireless device 120 withscheduling information that describes when a data transmission from thebase station 110 may be expected. An uplink or downlink grant may alsobe referred to as an uplink or downlink assignment, respectively.

The wireless device 120 may need to contact the network (e.g., via thebase station 110) without having a dedicated resource in the uplink 130.To handle this, a random access (RA) procedure is available so that sucha wireless device 120 may transmit a signal to the base station 110,despite not having a dedicated resource in the uplink 130. The firstmessage of this procedure is typically transmitted by the wirelessdevice 120 on a special resource reserved for random access known as aPhysical Random Access Channel (PRACH). The resources available forPRACH transmission may be provided to wireless devices 120 as part ofbroadcasted system information (or as part of dedicated Radio ResourceControl (RRC) protocol signaling in case of, e.g., handover).

The present disclosure will refer to the Long Term Evolution (LTE)enhancements introduced in 3GPP Release 13, 14, and 15 for MTC asEnhanced MTC (eMTC). Such enhancements include (but are not limited to)support for bandwidth limited UEs, Cat-M1, and support for coverageenhancements. In particular, the term eMTC is used to separatediscussion of its features from those of NB-IoT (which is a term usedherein that may pertain to any Release), although the features supportedby each may be similar in certain respects.

For both eMTC and NB-IoT, Cellular IoT (CIoT) Evolved Packet System(EPS) User Plane (UP) optimization and CIoT EPS Control Plane (CP)optimization signaling reductions were also introduced in Rel-13. Theformer, here referred to as the UP-solution, allows the UE to resume apreviously stored RRC connection (thus also known as RRCSuspend/Resume). The latter, here referred to as CP-solution, allows thetransmission of user-plane data over Non-Access Stratum (NAS), which issometimes referred to as Data Over NAS (DoNAS).

Among other things, particular embodiments of the present disclosure(e.g., as implemented for eMTC and/or NB-IoT, possibly beginning with3GPP Release 15) may reduce wireless device 120 power consumption and/orlatency by allowing data to be sent as early as is possible and/orpractical during the Random Access (RA) procedure. In pursuing such agoal, it may be worthwhile to evaluate power consumption/latency gainand specify necessary support for DL/UL data transmission on a dedicatedresource during the RA procedure (e.g., after PRACH and/or NarrowbandPRACH (NPRACH) transmission and before the RRC connection setup iscompleted). The RRC Suspend/Resume case may be particularly worthwhileto consider in this regard.

The messages in the RA procedure are commonly referred to as message 1(Msg1) through message 4 (Msg4). Contention based RA procedureconsistent with one or more embodiments of the present disclosure isillustrated in FIG. 2.

Approaches to support early data transmission (EDT) (e.g., during RA)may include support for early UL data transmission in Msg4 in a Rel-13UP solution. EDT may be enabled for UL Msg3 only, or DL Msg4 only, orboth Msg3 and Msg4 depending on actual use cases. The wireless device120 may indicate its intention of using EDT by the way it selects thepreamble in Msg1. However, this may require some form of preamblepartitioning, which may have a negative impact on (N)PRACH performance.

Preamble and PRACH resource partitioning/configuration and indication ofMsg3 data sizes may include the wireless device 120 initiating EDT inMsg1 when the size of Msg3 (including the user data which wirelessdevice 120 intends to transmit) is equal or smaller than the maximumpossible transport block size (TBS) for Msg3 broadcast per CoverageEnhanced/Enhancement (CE) level. Additionally or alternatively, PRACHpartitioning for EDT indication may be configured per enhanced coveragelevel.

In general, various embodiments may include or exclude certain features.For example, some embodiments may support segmentation, while others donot. Indeed, support for segmentation may not be a priority in someembodiments. In some embodiments, PRACH resource partitioning may not besupported to indicate the intended data size other than legacy ormaximum TBS broadcast per CE. According to one or more embodiments, UEcategory is not indicated in Msg1. Further, according to one or moreembodiments, for EDT indication, PRACH resources may be configured as inlegacy eMTC or NB-IoT with respect to physical layer resources,preambles/subcarriers. The PRACH resource pool, i.e., physical layerresources, preambles/subcarriers, for EDT indication may be separatefrom PRACH resource pool for legacy RACH procedure.

In some embodiments, the grant included in RAR for Msg3 transmissionmay, for example, be according to section 16.3.3 of 3GPP TS 36.213describing a narrowband RAR grant. In particular, higher layers mayindicate the Nr-bit UL Grant to the physical layer, as defined in 3GPPTS 36.321.

The number of bits (Nr-bits) in the narrowband RAR grant may be 15, andthe content of these 15 bits starting with the most significant bit(MSB) and ending with the least significant bit (LSB) are as follows.The first bit may indicate uplink subcarrier spacing (Δf), wherein a ‘0’indicates 3.75 kHz and a ‘1’ indicates 15 kHz spacing. The next six bitsmay represent the subcarrier indication field (Isc) as specified insubclause 16.5.1.1 of 3GPP TS 36.213. The next two bits may representthe scheduling delay field (IDelay) as specified in subclause 16.5.1 of3GPP TS 36.213, with k0=12 for IDelay=0, where NB-IoT DL subframe n isthe last subframe in which the Narrowband Physical Downlink SharedChannel (NPDSCH) associated with the Narrowband Random Access ResponseGrant is transmitted. The next three bits may represent a Msg3repetition number (NRep) as specified in Subclause 16.5.1.1 of 3GPP TS36.213. Finally, the next three bits may represent an MCS indexindicating TBS, modulation, and number of RUs for Msg3, according toTable 16.3.3-1 of 3GPP TS 36.213. The redundancy version for the firsttransmission of Msg3 may be 0.

Additionally or alternatively, the grant included in RAR for Msg3transmission may include the example downlink control information (DCI)illustrated in FIG. 3 (which may, e.g., be specified in section 16.3.3of 3GPP TS 36.213).

Additionally or alternatively, certain embodiments may address certainuncertainties with respect to how padding of Msg3 is performed. Forexample, in certain embodiments in which the UL data size is very small,Msg3 transmission may need to include a relatively large amount ofpadding. In general, padding may be done at the Media Access Control(MAC) sub-layer in the process of (re)building MAC Packet Data Unit(PDU) for Msg3. The UE's MAC sub-layer may (re)build a Msg3 PDUaccording to corresponding UL grant(s) the UE has received.

For example, the wireless device 120 may be provided with an UL grant inMsg2 (i.e., RAR message) to transmit Msg3. The MAC sub-layer may thenbuild a Msg3 PDU based on data from Common Control Channel (CCCH)logical channel submitted by the Radio Link Control (RLC) sub-layer andthen store it in the Msg3 buffer. The MAC entity may obtain the PDU fromMsg3 buffer and instruct the PHY layer to generate a transmission ofMsg3 according to the received UL grant. Once the wireless device 120transmits Msg3, it starts a timer (e.g., mac-ContentionResolutionTimer)and monitors the (N)PDCCH for receiving either Msg4 or a UL grant forMsg3 retransmission. In the case where the contention resolution in Msg4is considered unsuccessful, the wireless device 120 may restart the RAprocedure. Note that in subsequent RA attempts, the wireless device 120may obtain the Msg3 PDU from Msg3 buffer for transmission rather thanbuilding a new one. In case of Msg3 retransmission the base station 110may send the wireless device 120 a new UL grant via (N)PDCCH rather thana Msg4 (before the mac-ContentionResolutionTimer expires). The wirelessdevice 120 may additionally or alternatively obtain the PDU from Msg3buffer for retransmission using the newly provided UL grant.

According to various embodiments of EDT, Msg3 MAC PDU may be larger orsmaller than the provided UL grant. For example, the wireless device 120may receive an UL grant in Msg2 and realize that the provided grant isnot sufficient to accommodate the potential Msg3 PDU (i.e., including ULdata). In some such embodiments, the wireless device 120 may fallback totransmitting legacy Msg3 in some embodiments. As another example, the ULgrant may be larger compared to legacy Msg3 size, which may result inunnecessary waste of resources due to padding bits. Further, ULresources may be wasted when the UL grant is larger than needed toaccommodate all pending UL data. In addition, a similar situation mayalso happen when the wireless device 120 receives a smaller or larger ULgrant to (re)transmit the Msg3 PDU already stored in Msg3 buffer. Suchpadding issues may happen in CP EDT solutions, UP EDT solutions, orboth.

Notwithstanding the above, there may nonetheless be certain challenges.For example, two particular issues may arise in view of the size of anMsg3 grant as compared to the size of actual data to be transmitted inMsg3. The first of these issues may be due to the wireless device 120being allocated with the actual data size being relatively much smaller(e.g., 100 bits) than what is granted for Msg3 transmission (e.g., 1000bits), resulting in a payload of, e.g., 100 bits plus possible headersthat would be padded up to 1000 bits, potentially resulting in longertransmission time (which may thereby be performed at relatively higherpower consumption and/or latency, for example) and higher systemresource consumption compared to what would be needed if the providedgrant would be for smaller TBS. These issues are emphasized in deepcoverage due to number of repetitions required. Indeed, uplink TX timemay considerably affect wireless device 120 power consumption.

The second particular issue that may arise may be due to the wirelessdevice 120 being allocated with an UL grant larger than a legacy one butwhich is nonetheless not sufficient to accommodate the actual data sizeand the wireless device 120 falls back to performing in accordance witha legacy Msg3. Using a larger than required UL grant for legacy Msg3,padding is needed in Msg3 MAC PDU, resulting in higher power consumption(and latency) and system resource consumption compared to what would beneeded if either a smaller UL grant were provided, or the wirelessdevice 120 were to not fallback to legacy Msg3 (e.g., by usingsegmentation).

Particular embodiments may use multiple UL resource allocation (e.g.,multiple TBSs) to reduce the impact of excessive padding. For example,the base station 110 may provide multiple UL resource allocation for thewireless device 120, and the wireless device 120 may choose the closestTBS according to the data it wants to send. Accordingly, the wirelessdevice 120 may not need to pad when the UL resource allocation issignificantly larger than the data packet a wireless device 120 wants tosend.

Nonetheless, certain such embodiments may themselves face certainproblems and/or drawbacks. For example, some embodiments may include thewireless device 120 indicating its preferred data volume in Msg1, andthe base station 110 providing UL grants in Msg2 (i.e., RAR) for the TBSallocation, with the number of repetitions indicated via DCI thatschedules the RAR. This solution may not only consume excessive ULresource for Msg1, but may also introduce significant overhead at thebase station 110 for the effort of blind detection. Furthermore, becausethe number of repetitions is indicated in DCI that schedules the RAR,the base station 110 may not be able to adjust the coverage through thenumber of repetitions for the UEs that share the RAR message (i.e.,given that a RAR message may be transmitted to several UEs at the sametime to schedule them in the UL). Solutions that effectively signal andperform UL resource allocation in the use of multiple TBS are not wellunderstood in the art.

Certain aspects of the present disclosure and their embodiments mayprovide solutions to these or other challenges. Embodiments of thepresent disclosure propose a concrete method to provide several Msg3 TBSsizes (UL grants) in Msg2 for transmitting data during random access.The wireless device 120 may choose the TBS that best fits the datacurrently in its buffer. The base station 110 may then perform (blind)detection to identify the Msg3 and the attached data.

That is, particular embodiments may provide more than one TBS/ULresource allocation grant in Msg2 to the wireless device 120 to transmitdata during random access in Msg3. The resource allocated for the ULMsg3 transmission may be allocated in a way to ensure minimum ULresource usage in the case of more than one TBS/UL grant is provided tothe wireless device 120, and/or to ensure good detection performance atthe base station 110. The wireless device 120 may choose a proper TBSthat fits the data in its buffer. The base station 110 may then perform(blind) detection to identify the Msg3 and the attached data.Accordingly, excessive padding (and correspondingly, excess powerconsumption caused by unnecessary padding) may be reduced.

Certain embodiments may provide one or more of the following technicaladvantage(s). For example, excessive padding (and correspondingly,excess power consumption caused by unnecessary padding) may be reducedby certain embodiments. One or more embodiments discussed herein mayadditionally or alternatively optimize the UL resource allocation and/orreduce DL signaling overhead when providing the UL resource allocation,which may be particularly important in NB-IoT and/or eMTC given that ULand DL resources are limited in these contexts as compared with legacyLTE, for example.

Radio communication between the base station 110 and the wireless device120 may be performed using radio resources across a time and frequencydomain. For example, NB-IoT may use Orthogonal Frequency-DivisionMultiplexing (OFDM) in the downlink and Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT)spread OFDM in the uplink. A basic downlink physical resource may beviewed as a time-frequency grid. FIG. 4 illustrates a portion of anexample OFDM time-frequency grid 50. According to this example, thetime-frequency grid 50 is divided into one millisecond subframes. Eachsubframe includes a number of OFDM symbols. For a normal cyclic prefixlength, suitable for use in situations where multipath dispersion is notexpected to be extremely severe, a subframe may comprise fourteen OFDMsymbols. A subframe may comprise twelve OFDM symbols if an extendedcyclic prefix is used. In the frequency domain, the physical resourcesshown in FIG. 4 are divided into adjacent subcarriers with a spacing of15 kHz. The number of subcarriers may vary according to the allocatedsystem bandwidth. The smallest element of the time-frequency grid 50 istypically referred to as a resource element 52, which comprises one OFDMsubcarrier during one OFDM symbol interval. One way to identify aparticular resource element within a subframe is by its time-position(i.e., t-position) and frequency-position (i.e., f-position) in thegrid.

NB-IoT may use a similar time-frequency grid for the downlink 140, e.g.,including twelve 15 kHz adjacent subcarriers for a total of 180 kHz.According to NB-IoT, a resource unit (RU) is a unit that maps to atransport block. The dimensions of an RU may vary depending on the(N)PUSCH format and subcarrier spacing. For example, when using NPUSCHformat 1 with 3.75 kHz subcarrier spacing, an RU may be one subcarrierwide and 16 time slots long. Other NPUSCH formats and/or subcarrierspacings may use differently sized RUs.

Particular embodiments of the present disclosure include a method 200performed by a wireless device 120 for transmitting user data on anuplink 130 during random access, e.g., as illustrated in FIG. 5. Themethod 200 comprises receiving a resource grant indicating a pluralityof options for the transmitting of the user data on the uplink 130during random access (block 210). Each respective option comprises atransport block size, and further comprises a number of resource units,repetitions, or physical resource blocks corresponding to the transportblock size. The method 200 further comprises transmitting the user dataon the uplink 130 during random access to a base station 110 accordingto at least one of the options (block 220).

Other embodiments include a method 300 performed by a base station 110for enabling a user equipment 120 to transmit user data on an uplink 130during random access, e.g., as illustrated in FIG. 6. The method 300comprises transmitting a resource grant indicating a plurality ofoptions from which the user equipment 120 is permitted to select for usein transmitting the user data on the uplink 130 during random access(block 310). Each respective option comprises a transport block size,and further comprises a number of resource units, repetitions, orphysical resource blocks corresponding to the transport block size. Insome embodiments, the method 300 further comprises receiving the userdata on the uplink 130 during the random access according to at leastone of the options (block 320).

Note that the apparatuses described above may perform the methods hereinand any other processing by implementing any functional means, modules,units, or circuitry. In one embodiment, for example, the apparatusescomprise respective circuits or circuitry configured to perform thesteps shown in the method figures. The circuits or circuitry in thisregard may comprise circuits dedicated to performing certain functionalprocessing and/or one or more microprocessors in conjunction withmemory. For instance, the circuitry may include one or moremicroprocessor or microcontrollers, as well as other digital hardware,which may include digital signal processors (DSPs), special-purposedigital logic, and the like. The processing circuitry may be configuredto execute program code stored in memory, which may include one orseveral types of memory such as read-only memory (ROM), random-accessmemory, cache memory, flash memory devices, optical storage devices,etc. Program code stored in memory may include program instructions forexecuting one or more telecommunications and/or data communicationsprotocols as well as instructions for carrying out one or more of thetechniques described herein, in several embodiments. In embodiments thatemploy memory, the memory stores program code that, when executed by theone or more processors, carries out the techniques described herein.

FIG. 7 for example illustrates a wireless device 120 as implemented inaccordance with one or more embodiments. As shown, the wireless device120 includes processing circuitry 410 and communication circuitry 420.The communication circuitry (e.g., radio circuitry) 420 is configured totransmit and/or receive information to and/or from one or more othernodes, e.g., via any communication technology. Such communication mayoccur via one or more antennas that are either internal or external tothe wireless device 120. The processing circuitry 410 is configured toperform processing described above, such as by executing instructionsstored in memory 430. The processing circuitry 410 in this regard mayimplement certain functional means, units, or modules.

FIG. 8 illustrates a schematic block diagram of an wireless device 120in a wireless network according to still other embodiments (for example,the wireless network shown in FIG. QQ1). As shown, the wireless device120 implements various functional means, units, or modules, e.g., viathe processing circuitry in FIG. 7 and/or via software code. Thesefunctional means, units, or modules, e.g., for implementing themethod(s) herein, include for instance: a receiving unit or module 440,and a transmitting unit or module 450. The receiving unit or module 440is configured to receive a resource grant indicating a plurality ofoptions for the transmitting of the user data on the uplink 130 duringrandom access. Each respective option comprises a transport block size,and further comprises a number of resource units, repetitions, orphysical resource blocks corresponding to the transport block size. Thetransmitting unit or module 450 is configured to transmit the user dataon the uplink 130 during random access to a base station 110 accordingto at least one of the options.

FIG. 9 illustrates a network node 500 (e.g., a base station 110, eNB) asimplemented in accordance with one or more embodiments. As shown, thenetwork node includes processing circuitry 510 and communicationcircuitry 520. The communication circuitry 520 is configured to transmitand/or receive information to and/or from one or more other nodes, e.g.,via any communication technology. The processing circuitry 510 isconfigured to perform processing described above, such as by executinginstructions stored in memory. The processing circuitry 510 in thisregard may implement certain functional means, units, or modules.

FIG. 10 illustrates a schematic block diagram of a network node 500(e.g., base station 110, eNB) in a wireless network according to stillother embodiments (for example, the wireless network shown in FIG. QQ1).As shown, the network node 500 implements various functional means,units, or modules, e.g., via the processing circuitry 510 in FIG. 9and/or via software code. These functional means, units, or modules,e.g., for implementing the method(s) herein, include for instance atransmitting unit or module 540. Some such embodiments further comprisea receiving unit or module 550. The transmitting unit or module 540 isconfigured to transmit a resource grant indicating a plurality ofoptions from which the user equipment 120 is permitted to select for usein transmitting the user data on the uplink 130 during random access.Each respective option comprises a transport block size, and furthercomprises a number of resource units, repetitions, or physical resourceblocks corresponding to the transport block size. The receiving unit ormodule 550 (i.e., if included in the particular embodiment) isconfigured to receive the user data on the uplink 130 during the randomaccess according to at least one of the options.

Other embodiments herein include corresponding computer programs.

A computer program comprises instructions which, when executed on atleast one processor of an apparatus, cause the apparatus to carry outany of the respective processing described above. A computer program inthis regard may comprise one or more code modules corresponding to themeans or units described above.

Embodiments further include a carrier containing such a computerprogram. This carrier may comprise one of an electronic signal, opticalsignal, radio signal, or computer readable storage medium.

In this regard, embodiments herein also include a computer programproduct stored on a non-transitory computer readable (storage orrecording) medium and comprising instructions that, when executed by aprocessor of an apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform as describedabove.

Embodiments further include a computer program product comprisingprogram code portions for performing the steps of any of the embodimentsherein when the computer program product is executed by a computingdevice. This computer program product may be stored on a computerreadable recording medium.

Additional embodiments will now be described. At least some of theseembodiments may be described as applicable in certain contexts and/orwireless network types for illustrative purposes, but the embodimentsare similarly applicable in other contexts and/or wireless network typesnot explicitly described.

The following embodiments may be particularly useful for NB-IoT:

A typical NB-IoT system may, for example, use a fixed Msg3 size of 88bits. The MCS, TBS and number of resource units (RUs) used for Msg3 maybe determined by using the table illustrated in FIG. 11 (e.g.,consistent with NB-IoT Rel-13), or another table as may be found, e.g.,in Table 16.3.3-1 of TS 36.213.

As shown in the example of FIG. 11, only one TBS is supported in such asystem, and the modulation and number of RUs are adjustable by the basestation 110 to indicate the MCS index in the UL grant.

An 88-bit TBS may not be enough to transmit data during random access inMsg3. It may also not be resource efficient for the wireless device 120to indicate its uplink buffer size to the base station 110. Such mayalso increase complexity of random access and associated signalling.Hence, it may be difficult for the base station 110 to determine theexact UL resource that needs to be allocated to a wireless device 120.As previously discussed, if more resource is allocated to the wirelessdevice 120, the wireless device 120 may need to pad the unused resource,which uses more radio resources and power than may be necessary,particularly if the allocated resource is significantly larger than whatthe wireless device 120 needs.

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide multiple UL resourcechoices (e.g., in terms of TBS, RUs, modulation orders) for the wirelessdevice 120 to select the best option (e.g., autonomously). That is, thewireless device 120 may choose the most appropriate UL resource to sendits UL data in Msg3.

Achieving flexibility in making such a determination may result innumerous information bits being transmitted in Msg2 to indicate theavailable choices. This may increase the size of Msg2, which may causebackward compatibility issues. Embodiments of the present disclosureresolve this problem, e.g., by reducing the number of bits used in Msg2to indicate the UL resource allocation. Embodiments additionally oralternatively provide several UL allocation candidates for the wirelessdevice 120 to choose from and/or help reduce UL resource usage in thesystem.

Allocation of the UL resources that can be used as candidates for the ULMsg3 transmission may be performed in several possible ways, accordingto particular embodiments. For example, some embodiments align thestarting points of UL resources 150 a, 150 b, 150 c, such that the ULresources start at the same time and frequency indicated in Msg2, buteach may have a different length in time, e.g., in terms of the numberof repetitions required with respect to different TBS's to betransmitted. An example of this is illustrated in FIG. 12A. Note thatthe UL resources 150 a-c may each, for example, comprise any number ofresource elements 52.

Other embodiments may include a fixed or configurable timing offsetbetween each of the UL resources 150 a-c as shown below, where either atime offset (e.g., FIG. 12B), frequency offset (e.g., FIG. 12C), or botha time offset and frequency offset (e.g., FIG. 12D) are added betweendifferent allocated UL resources 150 a-c.

Other embodiments include a same starting time of the Msg3 PUSCH for allthe UL resources 150 a-c, but each may have a different number of PRBsin frequency and/or length in time, as shown in FIG. 12E.

Note that although the examples of FIGS. 12A-E each illustrate threedifferent UL resources 150 a-c, other embodiments may include adifferent number of UL resources 150.

Embodiments may have separate MAC RA response messages for legacy UEsand EDT UEs, e.g., allowing for a larger RAR size and still maintainingbackwards compatibility. Such embodiments may provide a supplemental oralternative means for providing the UL grant information for multiple ULgrants in one or more of the embodiments described herein.

The multiple UL resources may need to not only be allocated, but alsosignalled to the wireless device 120. This signalling may be performedin numerous ways, according to particular embodiments.

For example, a first embodiment for signalling the UL resources to thewireless device 120, may assume the number of UL subcarriers used forall the candidate UL resources is the same (e.g., consistent withNB-IoT). This assumption may reduce detection complexity at the basestation 110. Each of the candidate UL resource may be defined by a TBS,a number of resource units (RUs), and a number of repetitions. Thenumber of RUs depends on the number of subcarriers used. Notice that inNB-IoT, a TBS is mapped to an RU first, and if necessary, the RU isrepeated (for enhanced coverage). That is, RUs were introduced due tothe narrow transmission bandwidth and the number of RUs varies accordingto the TBS. For example, if a low code rate is needed, the TBS can bemapped to more RUs, and vice versa. The repetition is applied to the RUsto achieve a desired coverage, if is deemed to be necessary by the basestation 110.

Therefore, embodiments provide, e.g., a table with MCS-indexes, for theUL grant pre-configuration with different candidate TBSs andcorresponding number of RUs. According to such embodiments, (TBS, RUs)pairs are predefined. An index to a table which points to several of the(TBS, RUs) pairs to the wireless device 120 as a bundled configurationmay then be signalled, for example. The wireless device 120 may thenchoose one of the pairs for its UL Msg3 transmission. In at least someembodiments, these (TBS, RUs) pairs may result in a similar code ratesuch that a common number of repetitions (e.g., signaled separately) maybe applied by the base station 110 to adjust the coverage.

FIG. 13 illustrates a non-exclusive example of this approach. Otherembodiments may include one or more tables any of which may be in adifferent format from the example provided below. Also certainembodiments may instead reuse the reserved entries in Table 3 (e.g., inaccordance with section 16.3.3-1 of 3GPP TS 36.213), this may belimiting since an EDT wireless device 120 may be unable to transmit anyuser-plane data with a small grant size of 88 bits. Examples inaccordance with FIG. 13 are not limited in this way.

In the example of FIG. 13, 5 bits are used to signal any of up to 32different MCS indices. In this example, each MCS index entry correspondsto, at most, 3 different (TBS, RUs) pairs, which have similar code rate.That is number of RUs 1 corresponds to TBS 1, RUs 2 corresponds to TBS2, and RUs 3 corresponds to TBS3. It is also possible to have adifferent number of (TBS, RUs) pairs defined by each entry (i.e., ratherthan the 3 shown in this example).

In one embodiment, the five bits used to signal the MCS includes a bitfrom the uplink carrier spacing field, and a bit from the subcarrierindication field. The bits from these fields may be used to supplementthree bits ordinarily used to signal MCS in legacy grant signalling tosupport the signalling of larger number of MCS indices. Such an approachmay assume 15 kHz subcarrier spacing, such that uplink carrier spacingis not needed. Further, with 15 kHz spacing, only 5 bits are needed forsignaling possible subcarriers. The order of the bit fields of the grantfor embodiments of the present disclosure may be different from legacy,or the legacy fields may be interpreted in the way described above bycombining different bit locations. As an example, the uplink carrierspacing field may be used to signal the most significant bit (MSB) ofthe MCS, one bit of the subcarrier indication field may be used tosignal the second most significant bit of the MCS, and the 3 bitstypically used to signal the MCS index (e.g., in legacy signalling) maybe used to signal the least significant (LSB) bits. Other embodimentsmay signal the MCS in other ways.

The above assumes the same frequency-position and same time startposition as indicated, e.g., in FIG. 12A. If it is not the case that allgrants have the same f- and t-position, additional bits may be requiredto specify, e.g., the f- and t-position of grants 2 and 3. That is, if 3bits are sufficient for configuring the multi-grant table (e.g., such asthe one shown in FIG. 13), 2 bits may be used as an index to point out 4different pre-configurations with frequency and/or time offsets for theother multi grants relative to a first multi grant. For example, if thenumber of number of UL resources allocated in the UL grant is 3 as inthe table illustrated in FIG. 13, but only 3 bits are used for theselection, 2 bits could be used to specify the time offset relative togrant 1 according to the table illustrated in FIG. 14.

That is, if Msg3 grant 1 has start time t0 as specified as in legacyRel-13, grant 2 would have start time t0+Δt, and grant 3 would havestart time t0+2*Δt. The value of Δt is signaled from the network, e.g.,by using the table illustrated in FIG. 14.

In alternate embodiments of this solution, n bits out of the possible 15bits used in the legacy grant in RAR may indicate the MCS index. With nbits, n{circumflex over ( )}2 different combinations of (modulation) RUsand TBS could be signaled (with Table 1 showing example of n=5, asdiscussed above). In particular, the reserved bits of such a legacygrant may be used to signal offsets for f- and t-positions.

The base station 110 may select the MCS index (table entry) to beprovided to the wireless device 120 in RAR depending on one or more ofthe following:

-   -   Channel conditions, e.g. radio network load or estimate from        Msg1 reception.    -   Number of Msg3-grants that can be handled by base station 110        (i.e. table entries could be repeated with different number of        Msg3-grants.)    -   Commonly used EDT size used in the operators network, i.e. allow        for ‘repeated’ table entries with focus on higher or lower TBSs.    -   Other factors

In another embodiment, the number of (TBS, RUs) pairs can vary among apredefined set of values, for example {2,3,5}. This number of pairs canbe adaptively decided by the base station 110 and signaled to UEs, e.g.,via cell-specific signaling based on, for example, the commonly used EDTTBS in the network and/or desired additional complexity from blinddecoding of received Msg3. For the considered example, there can have 3pre-defined tables, similar in form to that depicted by Table 3, andcorresponding to three cases of 2, 3 or 5 choices of TBS the wirelessdevice 120 may select from. This may allow for the adaptive adjustment(reconfiguration) of granularity level in providing multiple UL grantsfor Msg3 taking into account the decoding overhead and wireless device120 behavior when in selecting EDT grant, that in turn helps improve theefficiency of EDT.

Another way to signal the Msg3 multi-grant information is to signal partof the information (e.g., information in Table 3) in the systeminformation (SI), and more information (e.g., the MCS index) in a RARmessage (i.e., Msg2) to the wireless device 120. Whether a cell supportsEDT may also be indicated in the SI, though this indication need not beexplicit. Thus, according to particular embodiments, this SI may includea one or more bits to indicate the supported TBSs. The SI may furtherindicate the modulation and number of RUs. The supported values may bechosen from a set of predefined values, e.g., in a table, but only thevalues indicated in the SI are supported in the cell. Then in the RARmessage to a specific wireless device 120, the base station 110 mayindicate which UL grants (pre-defined in SI) the wireless device 120 mayselect from for the transmission of Msg3. Each of the UL resources mayhave a corresponding entry in the information indicated in the SI. Thenumber of subcarriers and number of repetitions may be the same ordifferent for each of the UL resources, according to the particularembodiment.

FIG. 15 illustrates a non-limiting example of such signalling as may befound, e.g., in an NB-IoT system. The base station 110 signals thevalues in the table illustrated in FIG. 15 that can be used for userdata transmission in Msg3.

In the RAR message to the wireless device 120, the base station 110 mayfurther indicate which of the TBS(s) may be used by the wireless device120 for Msg3 PUSCH, e.g., as illustrated in the non-limiting example ofFIG. 16.

Accordingly, embodiments may provide the wireless device 120 with lesschoice than what the cell supports, e.g., based on:

-   -   Channel conditions.    -   Number of Msg3-grants that can be handled by base station 110        (i.e. table entries could be repeated with different number of        Msg3-grants.)    -   Commonly used EDT size used in the operators network, i.e. allow        for ‘repeated’ table entries with focus on higher or lower TBSs.    -   Other factors

This solution may use fewer bits in the RAR as compared to indicating anMCS index that indicates TBS, modulation, and number of RUs for Msg3.Therefore, it is possible to signal different number of subcarriers,and/or number of repetitions for each of the UL resources. In thissolution it is possible to use similar format as the legacy grant format(as discussed above) without increase the size of RAR.

If the same frequency and time position for the multi-grants are notassumed (as in certain embodiments discussed above), the table in FIG.15 may, in an alternative embodiment, be extended to cover the relativetime or frequency position of the grants, or a separate entry in thetable of FIG. 16 may indicate a lack of dependency between, e.g., theTBS and the time offset. Another advantage of embodiments that use thisparticular type of signalling (e.g., as compared to one or moreembodiments discussed above) is that the TBS or grant information givenin the table of FIG. 15 may be set to any values. For example, suchvalues may be updated over time or set differently in different cells orby different operators.

Yet other embodiments of the present disclosure only signal the largest(TBS, RUs) and the number of UL resources to the wireless device 120.The wireless device 120 then derives the smaller (TBS, RUs) pairsimplicitly. The relationship between the largest (TBS, RUs) and thesmaller one(s) may be predefined in the spec, e.g., by means of afunction. For example, the base station 110 may indicate that thelargest usable (TBS, RUs) is (1000, 7) as shown in the table of FIG. 17(or other table, e.g., Table 16.5.1.2-2 of 3GPP TS 36.213), and furtherindicate that the wireless device 120 has two additional choices withsmaller TBSs together with an offset between the two consecutive grants(e.g., an offset of 3 in this example). Then the wireless device 120 maythen derive the two smaller grants as (504, 4), and (176, 2).

More generally, a table (e.g., such as that in FIG. 17) may be used toindicate one of the (TBS, RUs) entries (e.g., the largest or thesmallest, according to particular embodiments). If this entry is unique,the wireless device 120 may locate the other (TBS, RUs) as being in thesame row as the indicated (TBS, RUs) entry.

In one example embodiment the largest grant may be given with legacysignaling, and the offset for the smaller (TBS, RUs) pair(s) may bespecified in System Information.

Alternatively, in some embodiments, a linear function is used to derivethe smaller (TBS, RUs) based on the largest (TBS_largest, RUs_largest).For example, if two smaller (TBS, RUs) pairs are supported in additionto the largest (TBS_largest, RUs_largest), the two smaller (TBS, RUs)pairs may be derived according to, e.g., the formulas:

round(TBS_largest/2), round(RUs_largest/2); and

round(TBS_largest/3), round(RUs_largest/3).

According to another example in which two smaller (TBS, RUs) pairs aresupported in addition to the largest (TBS_largest, RUs_largest), the twosmaller (TBS, RUs) pairs may be derived according to, e.g., theformulas:

round(TBS_largest/N), round(RUs_largest/N); and,

round(TBS_largest/(N−1)), round(RUs_largest/(N−1))

where N is the number of signaled uplink resource allocation candidates.In this particular example, N=3.

Other embodiments may include other formulae or mechanisms fordetermining one or more (TBS, RUs) pairs. Particular embodiments mayadditionally or alternatively use the minimum viable packet as aparameter or factor in deriving the possible TBS. For example, the entryin the row of the table of FIG. 17 may begin with the minimum viablepacket, but may correspond to different granularities in the row orotherwise.

One particular example may use, e.g., a linear function to derive thelarger (TBS, RUs) based on the minimum viable packet (TBS_minimum,RUs_minimum) by using similar methods stated above.

Certain embodiments discussed above assume that the size of the RARremains the same as in legacy implementations, e.g., to allow formultiplexing of legacy and EDT UEs in the same MAC RA response message.In some embodiments, a legacy wireless device 120 may have to be able to“read past” other RARs when looking for its own RAR given by RandomAccess Preamble Identifier (RAPID). Alternatively, separate RA responsemessages for legacy UEs and EDT UEs are used within the RAR window. Thatis, an EDT wireless device 120 which has transmitted Msg1 on a EDTNPRACH resource may ignore the legacy RA response message and look forthe new EDT RA response message. A new MAC header or different RAPIDsmay be introduced for this purpose. In this case, many of theembodiments discussed above may be implemented without being restrictedby size constraint. Indeed, the new EDT RAR may have any size, dependingon the particular embodiment. In one embodiment, the separate RARmessage may be in the padding region of the MAC PDU.

The following embodiments may be particularly useful for BL/CE UEs(eMTC, LTE-M):

Typical eMTC systems have a maximum size for Msg3 of 712 bits for BL/CEUEs in CE mode A, and 328 bits for BL/CE UEs in CE mode B. The table inFIG. 18 shows an example of definitions of the UL grant field in the MACRAR for BL/CE UEs. The MCS/TBS fields correspond to a maximum UL TBS of712 bits for CE mode A and 328 bits for CE mode B.

As previously discussed, this maximum may not be large enough to exploitthe benefit of EDT. One option to address this may be to increase themaximum bits for Msg3, e.g., to 1000 bits for PRACH CE level 0 & 1 (“CEmode A”) and 936 bits for PRACH CE levels 2 & 3 (“CE mode B”). Since thewireless device 120 is in idle mode, the wireless device 120 may not beable to report its uplink buffer size to the base station 110, and hencethe base station 110 may have difficulties in determining the exact ULresource (TBS size) that needs to be allocated to a wireless device 120.As discussed above, if more resource is allocated to the wireless device120, then the wireless device 120 may need to pad the unused resource,which may use excessive radio resources and power if the allocatedresource is significantly larger than what the wireless device 120needs.

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide multiple UL resourcechoices (e.g., in terms of TBS/MCS, number of repetitions for Msg3PUSCH) for the wireless device 120 to autonomously select the bestoption. The wireless device 120 may choose the most appropriate ULresource to send its UL data in Msg3. Certain embodiments may requiremany additional bits of information in Msg2 to indicate these choices.However, increasing the size of Msg2 may cause backward compatibilityissues (i.e., because the MAC RA response message contains multipleRARs, including both EDT and legacy UEs, the RAR size cannot change).Also, since the wireless device 120 would only choose one of the ULresources, it may be a waste of resource if excessive UL resources arereserved but not used (or only a small portion is used) by the wirelessdevice 120.

Embodiments of the present disclosure reduce or minimize the messagesize in the UL grant carried by Msg2 and/or provide several ULallocation candidates for the wireless device 120 to choose from.Embodiments may additionally or alternatively aid in reducing orminimizing the UL resource usage in the system.

Allocation of the UL resources as candidates for the UL Msg3transmission may be performed in various ways, according to particularembodiments (e.g., as described above with respect to FIGS. 12A-E). Asdescribed above, in one such embodiment, the starting points of theresources are aligned as illustrated in FIG. 12A. That is, the Msg3PUSCH Resource allocation indicates the same frequency resources for allthe UL resources, but each of them has a different length in time,defined, e.g., by different number of repetitions.

Other embodiments include one or more fixed or configurable timingoffsets between each of the UL resources. The timing offset(s) mayinclude a time offset (e.g., as shown in FIG. 12B), a frequency offset(e.g., as shown in FIG. 12C), or both a time and frequency offset (e.g.,as shown in FIG. 12D) which are added between different allocated ULresources, similar to embodiments discussed above. Other embodimentsinclude a same starting time of the msg3 PUSCH for all the UL resources,but each may have a different number of PRBs in frequency and/or lengthin time, as shown in FIG. 12E.

In another embodiment it is proposed to have separate MAC RA responsemessages for legacy UEs and EDT UEs, allowing for a larger RAR size andstill maintaining backwards compatibility.

In addition to allocating the resources, the multiple UL resourceallocation may need to be signalled to the wireless device 120 inparticular embodiments. The following paragraphs discuss examples ofsuch embodiments in which the multiple UL resource allocation grants aresignalled to the wireless device 120.

In particular, each of the candidate UL resources may be defined by aTBS/MCS, the allocated frequency resources (in terms of PRBs), and anumber of repetitions. In eMTC, a TBS may be mapped to one or more PRBsin the frequency domain first, and repetitions may used for enhancedcoverage if needed or desired.

When a smaller TBS is mapped to the same number of PRBs in the frequencydomain, the code rate is lower. Therefore, less number of repetitionsare generally needed in order to achieve the same coverage.

Accordingly, embodiments of the present disclosure include a table forthe UL grant pre-configuration with different indexes corresponding todifferent candidate TBSs and corresponding number of repetitions,assuming the same number of PRBs are used in the frequency domain. Insuch embodiments, (TBS, number of repetitions) pairs are defined andsignalled to a wireless device 120 as a bundled configuration, e.g.using an index to the table which points to several of the (TBS, numberof repetitions) pairs. The wireless device 120 can choose one of themfor its UL Msg3 transmission. These (BS, number of repetitions) pairsshould result in similar coverage. Although the table in FIG. 19illustrates an example of such a table, other embodiments may includeother formats, values, and/or fields, for example.

In the example of FIG. 19, five bits are used to signal one of up to 32different indices. In this example, each MCS index entry corresponds toat most 3 different (TBS, Number of repetitions for TBS) pairs.

In the example given in the table of FIG. 19, the number of repetitionsmay be explicitly signaled for each of the TBSs. Other embodiments maysignal/derive the number of repetitions implicitly, e.g, based on theconfigured maximum number of repetitions for PUSCH. The table in FIG. 20illustrates another non-exclusive example in which the maximum number ofconfigured repetitions in the cell is Y. There may be two values of Ysignaled also, e.g., one for CE mode A and another for CE mode B. If thefinal results in the entry of the number of repetitions is not aninteger, the number of repetitions may be rounded up or down to providean appropriate integer number.

In these examples, five bits are used to signal the MCS index. In onesuch embodiment, two additional bits are used as compared to a legacygrant (which is typically 3 bits). In some embodiments, these twoadditional bits are taken from the ‘Msg3 PUSCH Resource allocation’field, leaving only the larger resource allocations which are mostrelevant for the larger TBS sizes. The order of the bit fields of thegrant may be different from legacy, or may interpreted differently fromthe legacy fields, e.g., by combining different bit locations. As anexample, the subcarrier indication field may be the most significant bit(MSB) of the MCS index, one bit of the subcarrier indication field maybe the second most significant of the MCS index, and the 3 bits of thelegacy MCS index would be used as the least significant (LSB) bits.

Alternatively (e.g., if these additional bits are not available), thetables in FIGS. 19 and 20 may contain fewer entries and use a 3 bitindex for CE mode A, or 2 bits for CE mode B. In some embodiments, theTBS values for EDT for CE mode A and B are in accordance with the tableillustrated in FIG. 33.

Embodiments described above may use the same frequency-position and sametime start position, e.g., as shown in FIG. 12A. Alternatively (i.e., ifthe multiple grants do not each have the same f- and t-position),additional bits may be required to specify, e.g., the f- and t-positionof additional grants (e.g., grants 2 and 3). That is (for example), if 3bits would be sufficient for configuring the multi grant in the table ofFIG. 19, two bits may be used as an index to point out 4 differentpre-configurations with frequency and time offsets for the other multigrants relative to a first multi grant. For example, if the number ofmultigrants is 3 as in the table of FIG. 11, but only 3 bits used forthe selection, 2 bits could be used to specify the time offset relativeto grant 1 according to the table in FIG. 14.

That is, if Msg3 grant 1 has start time t0 (e.g., as specified as inlegacy Rel-13), grant 2 would have start time t0+Δt, and grant 3 wouldhave start time t0+2*Δt.

Alternatively, n bits out of the possible m total bits (e.g., m=20 orm=12) may be used in a RAR grant to indicate the MCS index. With n bits,n{circumflex over ( )}2 different combinations of (modulation, Number ofRepetitions for Msg3 PUSCH) and TBS could be signaled (with Table 2showing example of n=5, as discussed above).

The base station 110 may select the MCS index (table entry) to beprovided to wireless device 120 in RAR depending on one or more of thefollowing:

-   -   Channel conditions, e.g. radio network load or estimate from        Msg1 reception.    -   Number of Msg3-grants that can be handled by base station 110        (i.e. table entries could be repeated with different number of        Msg3-grants.)    -   Commonly used EDT size used in the operators network, i.e. allow        for ‘repeated’ table entries with focus on higher or lower TBSs.    -   Other factors

Alternatively, instead of fixing the Msg3 PUSCH resource allocation, wecan fix the number of repetitions, and use different number of PRBs fordifferent TBS to adjust the code rate. Notice up to 6 PRBs can beallocated to one wireless device 120 for its Msg3 PUSCH transmission.

Therefore, we can provide, e.g., a table with indexes, for the UL grantpre-configuration with different candidate TBSs and corresponding numberof PRBs used the frequency domain, assuming the same number ofrepetitions is used in time. The basic idea here is to pre-define (TBS,number of PRB) pairs, and signal, e.g. an index to a table which pointsto the several of the (TBS, number of PRB) pairs to the wireless device120 as a bundled configuration. The wireless device 120 can choose oneof them for its UL Msg3 transmission. These (BS, number of PRB) pairsshould result in similar coverage. The table of FIG. 21 is anon-limiting example of such. Other embodiments may be in other formats.In this example, 5 bits are used to signal 32 different indices, andeach MCS index entry corresponds to at most 3 different (TBS, Number ofPRB) pairs.

Notice that for BL CE/UEs, the starting PRB of a PUSCH resourceallocation can be any of the 6 PRBs in the frequency domain. The samemechanism of indicating the starting PRB can be used here for EDT inMsg3. But the number of continues allocation PRB is restricted by thestarting PRB. We can either explicitly include the starting PRBinformation in the table, or we can use an indirect way to derive this,e.g, by using a function, or we simply fix the starting PRB in the spec.

Another way to signal the multiple UL resource allocations for Msg3 isto signal part of the information in the system information (SI), andmore information is signaled in RAR message (i.e., Msg2) to the wirelessdevice 120. Whether a cell supports EDT needs to be indicated in the SI,e.g., when some preambles for Msg1 are reserved for EDT. Therefore, inthis system information, we can use a few bits to indicate the supportedTBSs, and possibly the modulation and number of repetitions. Thesupported values are chosen from a set of predefined values, e.g., in atable. But only the indicated values in the SI are supported in thecell. Then in the RAR message to a specific wireless device 120, basestation 110 can indicate which UL grants (pre-defined in SI) thewireless device 120 can select from for the transmission of Msg3, eachof the UL resource has a corresponding entry in the informationindicated in the SI. The number of PRBs and number of repetitions can bethe same or different for each of the UL resource.

In an eMTC system, the following non-exclusive example illustrates anembodiment of the idea. First in the SI, the base station 110 signalsthe values in the table of FIG. 22 that can be used for user datatransmission in Msg3.

In the RAR message to the wireless device 120, the base station 110further indicates which of the TBS(s) can be used by the wireless device120 for Msg3 PUSCH, together with the Msg3 PUSCH resource allocation,and number of repetitions for Msg3 PUSCH. The table in FIG. 16 gives anon-exclusive example.

There are several ways to signal the Msg3 PUSCH resource allocation, andnumber of repetitions for Msg3 PUSCH. For example, for each TBS thecorresponding Msg3 PUSCH resource allocation can be signalledexplicitly, as well as the number of repetitions for Msg3 PUSCH, or (forexample) one of them can be fixed for all TBS values, and the othersignalled explicitly.

If a common Msg3 PUSCH resource allocation is not needed, and the numberof repetitions for Msg3 PUSCH for all the TBS, we can bundle either Msg3PUSCH resource allocation, or the number of repetitions for Msg3 PUSCHin the table with TBSs as one single entry. Or we can bundle both Msg3PUSCH resource allocation and number of repetitions for Msg3 PUSCH inthe table with TBSs as one single entry.

Some embodiments provide the wireless device 120 with fewer choices thanwhat the cell supports, e.g., based on one or more of:

-   -   Channel conditions.    -   Number of Msg3-grants that can be handled by base station 110        (i.e. table entries could be repeated with different number of        Msg3-grants.)    -   Commonly used EDT size used in the operators network, i.e. allow        for ‘repeated’ table entries with focus on higher or lower TBSs.    -   Other factors

If it is not assumed that the multi-grants all have the same frequencyand time position, the tables in FIG. 19, 20, or 21 could (e.g., in analternative embodiment) be extended to cover the relative time orfrequency position of the grants, or a separate entry in the table ofFIG. 22 could indicate not to have any dependency between e.g. the TBSand the time offset.

The TBS or grant information given in Tables 19, 20, or 21 may be set toany values, i.e. updated over time or set differently in different cellsor by different operators.

Another solution is to only signal the largest (TBS, Number ofRepetitions for Msg3 PUSCH) and the number of UL resources (grants) tothe wireless device 120. The wireless device 120 can then derive thesmaller number of (TBS, Number of Repetitions for Msg3 PUSCH)implicitly. The relationship between the largest (TBS, Number ofRepetitions for Msg3 PUSCH) and the smaller one(s) can be predefined inthe spec, or using a function. For example, the if the largest (TBS,Number of Repetitions for Msg3 PUSCH) can be used is (1000, 128) asshown by row index 6 in the table of FIG. 23, and the network indicatesthe wireless device 120 can have another two different choices withsmaller TBSs. Then the wireless device 120 can derive the two smallergrants uses (504, 64), and (208, 32). The idea here to use a table,e.g., similar to the table in FIG. 23, and the network indicate thelargest (TBS, Number of Repetitions for Msg3 PUSCH) entry. Of course,this example should not be viewed as limiting, as other embodiments justas well indicate the smallest, for example. As this entry in the tableis unique, the wireless device 120 can simply assume the other (TBS,Number of Repetitions for Msg3 PUSCH) are in the same row as the largest(TBS, Number of Repetitions for Msg3 PUSCH) entry. Notice the Number ofRepetitions for Msg3 PUSCH can also be indirectly derived, e.g., byderiving it from the maximum number Y_max of repetitions supported inthe cell.

In one embodiment the largest grant may be given with legacy signaling,and the offset for the smaller (TBS, Number of Repetitions for Msg3PUSCH) may be specified in System Information.

Alternatively, a linear function may be used to derive the smaller (TBS,Number of Repetitions for Msg3 PUSCH) based on the largest (TBS_largest,Number of Repetitions for Msg3 PUSCH_largest). For example, if twosmaller (TBS, Number of Repetitions for Msg3 PUSCH_largest) pairs aresupport in addition to the largest (TBS_largest, Number of Repetitionsfor Msg3 PUSCH_largest), the two smaller (TBS, Number of Repetitions forMsg3 PUSCH) pairs can be e.g.:

(round(TBS_largest/2), round(Number of Repetitions for Msg3PUSCH_largest/2)),

(round(TBS_largest/3), round(Number of Repetitions for Msg3PUSCH_largest/3)).

Another example is that, if two smaller (TBS, Number of Repetitions forMsg3 PUSCH) pairs are support in addition to the largest (TBS_largest,Number of Repetitions for Msg3 PUSCH_largest), the two smaller (TBS,Number of Repetitions for Msg3 PUSCH) pairs can be e.g.,(round(TBS_largest/N), round(Number of Repetitions for Msg3PUSCH_largest/N)) and, (round(TBS_largest/(N−1)), round(Number ofRepetitions for Msg3 PUSCH_largest/(N−1)), where N is the number ofsignaled uplink resource allocation candidates. In this example, N=3.

The paragraphs above are just examples. Other embodiments may take intoaccount the minimum viable packet as a parameter/factor when derivingthe possible TB sizes. For example, the entire in the row of the abovetable always begin with the minimum viable packet, but with differentgranularities.

Or, we can simply use, e.g., a linear function to derive the larger(TBS, Number of Repetitions for Msg3 PUSCH) based on the minimum viablepacket (TBS_minimum, Number of Repetitions for Msg3 PUSCH_minimum) byusing similar methods stated above.

Particular embodiments above assume that the size of the RAR shouldremain the same to allow for multiplexing of legacy and EDT UEs in thesame MAC RA response message. (A legacy wireless device 120 would haveto be able to “read past” other RARs when looking for its own RAR givenby RAPID). However, an alternative solution is to have separate RAresponse messages for legacy UEs and EDT UEs within the RAR window. Thatis an EDT wireless device 120 which has transmitted Msg1 on a EDT NPRACHresource will ignore the legacy RA response message and look for the newEDT RA response message. A new MAC header or different RAPIDs could beintroduced for this purpose. In this case particular embodimentsdiscussed above may be implemented without being restricted by sizeconstraint, the new EDT RAR could have any size. In one embodiment theseparate RAR message is in the padding region of the MAC PDU.

Although the subject matter described herein may be implemented in anyappropriate type of system using any suitable components, theembodiments disclosed herein are described in relation to a wirelessnetwork, such as the example wireless network illustrated in FIG. 24.For simplicity, the wireless network of FIG. 24 only depicts network1606, network nodes 1660 and 1660 b, and WDs 1610, 1610 b, and 1610 c.In practice, a wireless network may further include any additionalelements suitable to support communication between wireless devices orbetween a wireless device and another communication device, such as alandline telephone, a service provider, or any other network node or enddevice. Of the illustrated components, network node 1660 and wirelessdevice (WD) 1610 are depicted with additional detail. The wirelessnetwork may provide communication and other types of services to one ormore wireless devices to facilitate the wireless devices' access toand/or use of the services provided by, or via, the wireless network.

The wireless network may comprise and/or interface with any type ofcommunication, telecommunication, data, cellular, and/or radio networkor other similar type of system. In some embodiments, the wirelessnetwork may be configured to operate according to specific standards orother types of predefined rules or procedures. Thus, particularembodiments of the wireless network may implement communicationstandards, such as Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM),Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), Long Term Evolution(LTE), Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT), and/or other suitable 2G,3G, 4G, or 5G standards; wireless local area network (WLAN) standards,such as the IEEE 802.11 standards; and/or any other appropriate wirelesscommunication standard, such as the Worldwide Interoperability forMicrowave Access (WiMax), Bluetooth, Z-Wave and/or ZigBee standards.

Network 1606 may comprise one or more backhaul networks, core networks,IP networks, public switched telephone networks (PSTNs), packet datanetworks, optical networks, wide-area networks (WANs), local areanetworks (LANs), wireless local area networks (WLANs), wired networks,wireless networks, metropolitan area networks, and other networks toenable communication between devices.

Network node 1660 and WD 1610 comprise various components described inmore detail below. These components work together in order to providenetwork node and/or wireless device functionality, such as providingwireless connections in a wireless network. In different embodiments,the wireless network may comprise any number of wired or wirelessnetworks, network nodes, base stations, controllers, wireless devices,relay stations, and/or any other components or systems that mayfacilitate or participate in the communication of data and/or signalswhether via wired or wireless connections.

As used herein, network node 110 refers to equipment capable,configured, arranged and/or operable to communicate directly orindirectly with a wireless device and/or with other network nodes orequipment in the wireless network to enable and/or provide wirelessaccess to the wireless device and/or to perform other functions (e.g.,administration) in the wireless network. Examples of network nodesinclude, but are not limited to, access points (APs) (e.g., radio accesspoints), base stations (BSs) (e.g., radio base stations, Node Bs,evolved Node Bs (eNBs) and NR NodeBs (gNBs)). Base stations may becategorized based on the amount of coverage they provide (or, stateddifferently, their transmit power level) and may then also be referredto as femto base stations, pico base stations, micro base stations, ormacro base stations. A base station may be a relay node or a relay donornode controlling a relay. A network node may also include one or more(or all) parts of a distributed radio base station such as centralizeddigital units and/or remote radio units (RRUs), sometimes referred to asRemote Radio Heads (RRHs). Such remote radio units may or may not beintegrated with an antenna as an antenna integrated radio. Parts of adistributed radio base station may also be referred to as nodes in adistributed antenna system (DAS). Yet further examples of network nodesinclude multi-standard radio (MSR) equipment such as MSR BSs, networkcontrollers such as radio network controllers (RNCs) or base stationcontrollers (BSCs), base transceiver stations (BTSs), transmissionpoints, transmission nodes, multi-cell/multicast coordination entities(MCEs), core network nodes (e.g., MSCs, MMEs), O&M nodes, OSS nodes, SONnodes, positioning nodes (e.g., Evolved-Serving Mobile Location Centres(E-SMLCs)), and/or MDTs. As another example, a network node may be avirtual network node as described in more detail below. More generally,however, network nodes may represent any suitable device (or group ofdevices) capable, configured, arranged, and/or operable to enable and/orprovide a wireless device with access to the wireless network or toprovide some service to a wireless device that has accessed the wirelessnetwork.

In FIG. 24, network node 1660 includes processing circuitry 1670, devicereadable medium 1680, interface 1690, auxiliary equipment 1684, powersource 1686, power circuitry 1687, and antenna 1662. Although networknode 1660 illustrated in the example wireless network of FIG. 24 mayrepresent a device that includes the illustrated combination of hardwarecomponents, other embodiments may comprise network nodes with differentcombinations of components. It is to be understood that a network nodecomprises any suitable combination of hardware and/or software needed toperform the tasks, features, functions and methods disclosed herein.Moreover, while the components of network node 1660 are depicted assingle boxes located within a larger box, or nested within multipleboxes, in practice, a network node may comprise multiple differentphysical components that make up a single illustrated component (e.g.,device readable medium 1680 may comprise multiple separate hard drivesas well as multiple RAM modules).

Similarly, network node 1660 may be composed of multiple physicallyseparate components (e.g., a NodeB component and a RNC component, or aBTS component and a BSC component, etc.), which may each have their ownrespective components. In certain scenarios in which network node 1660comprises multiple separate components (e.g., BTS and BSC components),one or more of the separate components may be shared among severalnetwork nodes. For example, a single RNC may control multiple NodeB's.In such a scenario, each unique NodeB and RNC pair, may in someinstances be considered a single separate network node. In someembodiments, network node 1660 may be configured to support multipleradio access technologies (RATs). In such embodiments, some componentsmay be duplicated (e.g., separate device readable medium 1680 for thedifferent RATs) and some components may be reused (e.g., the sameantenna 1662 may be shared by the RATs). Network node 1660 may alsoinclude multiple sets of the various illustrated components fordifferent wireless technologies integrated into network node 1660, suchas, for example, GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, WiFi, or Bluetooth wirelesstechnologies. These wireless technologies may be integrated into thesame or different chip or set of chips and other components withinnetwork node 1660.

Processing circuitry 1670 is configured to perform any determining,calculating, or similar operations (e.g., certain obtaining operations)described herein as being provided by a network node. These operationsperformed by processing circuitry 1670 may include processinginformation obtained by processing circuitry 1670 by, for example,converting the obtained information into other information, comparingthe obtained information or converted information to information storedin the network node, and/or performing one or more operations based onthe obtained information or converted information, and as a result ofsaid processing making a determination.

Processing circuitry 1670 may comprise a combination of one or more of amicroprocessor, controller, microcontroller, central processing unit,digital signal processor, application-specific integrated circuit, fieldprogrammable gate array, or any other suitable computing device,resource, or combination of hardware, software and/or encoded logicoperable to provide, either alone or in conjunction with other networknode 1660 components, such as device readable medium 1680, network node1660 functionality. For example, processing circuitry 1670 may executeinstructions stored in device readable medium 1680 or in memory withinprocessing circuitry 1670. Such functionality may include providing anyof the various wireless features, functions, or benefits discussedherein. In some embodiments, processing circuitry 1670 may include asystem on a chip (SOC).

In some embodiments, processing circuitry 1670 may include one or moreof radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 1672 and basebandprocessing circuitry 1674. In some embodiments, radio frequency (RF)transceiver circuitry 1672 and baseband processing circuitry 1674 may beon separate chips (or sets of chips), boards, or units, such as radiounits and digital units. In alternative embodiments, part or all of RFtransceiver circuitry 1672 and baseband processing circuitry 1674 may beon the same chip or set of chips, boards, or units

In certain embodiments, some or all of the functionality describedherein as being provided by a network node, base station, eNB or othersuch network device may be performed by processing circuitry 1670executing instructions stored on device readable medium 1680 or memorywithin processing circuitry 1670. In alternative embodiments, some orall of the functionality may be provided by processing circuitry 1670without executing instructions stored on a separate or discrete devicereadable medium, such as in a hard-wired manner. In any of thoseembodiments, whether executing instructions stored on a device readablestorage medium or not, processing circuitry 1670 can be configured toperform the described functionality. The benefits provided by suchfunctionality are not limited to processing circuitry 1670 alone or toother components of network node 1660, but are enjoyed by network node1660 as a whole, and/or by end users and the wireless network generally.

Device readable medium 1680 may comprise any form of volatile ornon-volatile computer readable memory including, without limitation,persistent storage, solid-state memory, remotely mounted memory,magnetic media, optical media, random access memory (RAM), read-onlymemory (ROM), mass storage media (for example, a hard disk), removablestorage media (for example, a flash drive, a Compact Disk (CD) or aDigital Video Disk (DVD)), and/or any other volatile or non-volatile,non-transitory device readable and/or computer-executable memory devicesthat store information, data, and/or instructions that may be used byprocessing circuitry 1670. Device readable medium 1680 may store anysuitable instructions, data or information, including a computerprogram, software, an application including one or more of logic, rules,code, tables, etc. and/or other instructions capable of being executedby processing circuitry 1670 and, utilized by network node 1660. Devicereadable medium 1680 may be used to store any calculations made byprocessing circuitry 1670 and/or any data received via interface 1690.In some embodiments, processing circuitry 1670 and device readablemedium 1680 may be considered to be integrated.

Interface 1690 is used in the wired or wireless communication ofsignalling and/or data between network node 1660, network 1606, and/orWDs 1610. As illustrated, interface 1690 comprises port(s)/terminal(s)1694 to send and receive data, for example to and from network 1606 overa wired connection. Interface 1690 also includes radio front endcircuitry 1692 that may be coupled to, or in certain embodiments a partof, antenna 1662. Radio front end circuitry 1692 comprises filters 1698and amplifiers 1696. Radio front end circuitry 1692 may be connected toantenna 1662 and processing circuitry 1670. Radio front end circuitrymay be configured to condition signals communicated between antenna 1662and processing circuitry 1670. Radio front end circuitry 1692 mayreceive digital data that is to be sent out to other network nodes orWDs via a wireless connection. Radio front end circuitry 1692 mayconvert the digital data into a radio signal having the appropriatechannel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of filters 1698and/or amplifiers 1696. The radio signal may then be transmitted viaantenna 1662. Similarly, when receiving data, antenna 1662 may collectradio signals which are then converted into digital data by radio frontend circuitry 1692. The digital data may be passed to processingcircuitry 1670. In other embodiments, the interface may comprisedifferent components and/or different combinations of components.

In certain alternative embodiments, network node 1660 may not includeseparate radio front end circuitry 1692, instead, processing circuitry1670 may comprise radio front end circuitry and may be connected toantenna 1662 without separate radio front end circuitry 1692. Similarly,in some embodiments, all or some of RF transceiver circuitry 1672 may beconsidered a part of interface 1690. In still other embodiments,interface 1690 may include one or more ports or terminals 1694, radiofront end circuitry 1692, and RF transceiver circuitry 1672, as part ofa radio unit (not shown), and interface 1690 may communicate withbaseband processing circuitry 1674, which is part of a digital unit (notshown).

Antenna 1662 may include one or more antennas, or antenna arrays,configured to send and/or receive wireless signals. Antenna 1662 may becoupled to radio front end circuitry 1690 and may be any type of antennacapable of transmitting and receiving data and/or signals wirelessly. Insome embodiments, antenna 1662 may comprise one or moreomni-directional, sector or panel antennas operable to transmit/receiveradio signals between, for example, 2 GHz and 66 GHz. Anomni-directional antenna may be used to transmit/receive radio signalsin any direction, a sector antenna may be used to transmit/receive radiosignals from devices within a particular area, and a panel antenna maybe a line of sight antenna used to transmit/receive radio signals in arelatively straight line. In some instances, the use of more than oneantenna may be referred to as MIMO. In certain embodiments, antenna 1662may be separate from network node 1660 and may be connectable to networknode 1660 through an interface or port.

Antenna 1662, interface 1690, and/or processing circuitry 1670 may beconfigured to perform any receiving operations and/or certain obtainingoperations described herein as being performed by a network node. Anyinformation, data and/or signals may be received from a wireless device,another network node and/or any other network equipment. Similarly,antenna 1662, interface 1690, and/or processing circuitry 1670 may beconfigured to perform any transmitting operations described herein asbeing performed by a network node. Any information, data and/or signalsmay be transmitted to a wireless device, another network node and/or anyother network equipment.

Power circuitry 1687 may comprise, or be coupled to, power managementcircuitry and is configured to supply the components of network node1660 with power for performing the functionality described herein. Powercircuitry 1687 may receive power from power source 1686. Power source1686 and/or power circuitry 1687 may be configured to provide power tothe various components of network node 1660 in a form suitable for therespective components (e.g., at a voltage and current level needed foreach respective component). Power source 1686 may either be included in,or external to, power circuitry 1687 and/or network node 1660. Forexample, network node 1660 may be connectable to an external powersource (e.g., an electricity outlet) via an input circuitry or interfacesuch as an electrical cable, whereby the external power source suppliespower to power circuitry 1687. As a further example, power source 1686may comprise a source of power in the form of a battery or battery packwhich is connected to, or integrated in, power circuitry 1687. Thebattery may provide backup power should the external power source fail.Other types of power sources, such as photovoltaic devices, may also beused.

Alternative embodiments of network node 1660 may include additionalcomponents beyond those shown in FIG. 24 that may be responsible forproviding certain aspects of the network node's functionality, includingany of the functionality described herein and/or any functionalitynecessary to support the subject matter described herein. For example,network node 1660 may include user interface equipment to allow input ofinformation into network node 1660 and to allow output of informationfrom network node 1660. This may allow a user to perform diagnostic,maintenance, repair, and other administrative functions for network node1660.

As used herein, wireless device (WD) refers to a device capable,configured, arranged and/or operable to communicate wirelessly withnetwork nodes and/or other wireless devices. Unless otherwise noted, theterm WD may be used interchangeably herein with user equipment (UE).Communicating wirelessly may involve transmitting and/or receivingwireless signals using electromagnetic waves, radio waves, infraredwaves, and/or other types of signals suitable for conveying informationthrough air. In some embodiments, a WD may be configured to transmitand/or receive information without direct human interaction. Forinstance, a WD may be designed to transmit information to a network on apredetermined schedule, when triggered by an internal or external event,or in response to requests from the network. Examples of a WD include,but are not limited to, a smart phone, a mobile phone, a cell phone, avoice over IP (VoIP) phone, a wireless local loop phone, a desktopcomputer, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a wireless cameras, agaming console or device, a music storage device, a playback appliance,a wearable terminal device, a wireless endpoint, a mobile station, atablet, a laptop, a laptop-embedded equipment (LEE), a laptop-mountedequipment (LME), a smart device, a wireless customer-premise equipment(CPE). a vehicle-mounted wireless terminal device, etc. A WD may supportdevice-to-device (D2D) communication, for example by implementing a 3GPPstandard for sidelink communication, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V),vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), vehicle-to-everything (V2X) and may inthis case be referred to as a D2D communication device. As yet anotherspecific example, in an Internet of Things (IoT) scenario, a WD mayrepresent a machine or other device that performs monitoring and/ormeasurements, and transmits the results of such monitoring and/ormeasurements to another WD and/or a network node. The WD may in thiscase be a machine-to-machine (M2M) device, which may in a 3GPP contextbe referred to as an MTC device. As one particular example, the WD maybe a UE implementing the 3GPP narrow band internet of things (NB-IoT)standard. Particular examples of such machines or devices are sensors,metering devices such as power meters, industrial machinery, or home orpersonal appliances (e.g. refrigerators, televisions, etc.) personalwearables (e.g., watches, fitness trackers, etc.). In other scenarios, aWD may represent a vehicle or other equipment that is capable ofmonitoring and/or reporting on its operational status or other functionsassociated with its operation. A WD as described above may represent theendpoint of a wireless connection, in which case the device may bereferred to as a wireless terminal. Furthermore, a WD as described abovemay be mobile, in which case it may also be referred to as a mobiledevice or a mobile terminal.

As illustrated, wireless device 1610 includes antenna 1611, interface1614, processing circuitry 1620, device readable medium 1630, userinterface equipment 1632, auxiliary equipment 1634, power source 1636and power circuitry 1637. WD 1610 may include multiple sets of one ormore of the illustrated components for different wireless technologiessupported by WD 1610, such as, for example, GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, WiFi,WiMAX, NB-IoT, or Bluetooth wireless technologies, just to mention afew. These wireless technologies may be integrated into the same ordifferent chips or set of chips as other components within WD 1610.

Antenna 1611 may include one or more antennas or antenna arrays,configured to send and/or receive wireless signals, and is connected tointerface 1614. In certain alternative embodiments, antenna 1611 may beseparate from WD 1610 and be connectable to WD 1610 through an interfaceor port. Antenna 1611, interface 1614, and/or processing circuitry 1620may be configured to perform any receiving or transmitting operationsdescribed herein as being performed by a WD. Any information, dataand/or signals may be received from a network node and/or another WD. Insome embodiments, radio front end circuitry and/or antenna 1611 may beconsidered an interface.

As illustrated, interface 1614 comprises radio front end circuitry 1612and antenna 1611. Radio front end circuitry 1612 comprise one or morefilters 1618 and amplifiers 1616. Radio front end circuitry 1614 isconnected to antenna 1611 and processing circuitry 1620, and isconfigured to condition signals communicated between antenna 1611 andprocessing circuitry 1620. Radio front end circuitry 1612 may be coupledto or a part of antenna 1611. In some embodiments, WD 1610 may notinclude separate radio front end circuitry 1612; rather, processingcircuitry 1620 may comprise radio front end circuitry and may beconnected to antenna 1611. Similarly, in some embodiments, some or allof RF transceiver circuitry 1622 may be considered a part of interface1614. Radio front end circuitry 1612 may receive digital data that is tobe sent out to other network nodes or WDs via a wireless connection.Radio front end circuitry 1612 may convert the digital data into a radiosignal having the appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using acombination of filters 1618 and/or amplifiers 1616. The radio signal maythen be transmitted via antenna 1611. Similarly, when receiving data,antenna 1611 may collect radio signals which are then converted intodigital data by radio front end circuitry 1612. The digital data may bepassed to processing circuitry 1620. In other embodiments, the interfacemay comprise different components and/or different combinations ofcomponents.

Processing circuitry 1620 may comprise a combination of one or more of amicroprocessor, controller, microcontroller, central processing unit,digital signal processor, application-specific integrated circuit, fieldprogrammable gate array, or any other suitable computing device,resource, or combination of hardware, software, and/or encoded logicoperable to provide, either alone or in conjunction with other WD 1610components, such as device readable medium 1630, WD 1610 functionality.Such functionality may include providing any of the various wirelessfeatures or benefits discussed herein. For example, processing circuitry1620 may execute instructions stored in device readable medium 1630 orin memory within processing circuitry 1620 to provide the functionalitydisclosed herein.

As illustrated, processing circuitry 1620 includes one or more of RFtransceiver circuitry 1622, baseband processing circuitry 1624, andapplication processing circuitry 1626. In other embodiments, theprocessing circuitry may comprise different components and/or differentcombinations of components. In certain embodiments processing circuitry1620 of WD 1610 may comprise a SOC. In some embodiments, RF transceivercircuitry 1622, baseband processing circuitry 1624, and applicationprocessing circuitry 1626 may be on separate chips or sets of chips. Inalternative embodiments, part or all of baseband processing circuitry1624 and application processing circuitry 1626 may be combined into onechip or set of chips, and RF transceiver circuitry 1622 may be on aseparate chip or set of chips. In still alternative embodiments, part orall of RF transceiver circuitry 1622 and baseband processing circuitry1624 may be on the same chip or set of chips, and application processingcircuitry 1626 may be on a separate chip or set of chips. In yet otheralternative embodiments, part or all of RF transceiver circuitry 1622,baseband processing circuitry 1624, and application processing circuitry1626 may be combined in the same chip or set of chips. In someembodiments, RF transceiver circuitry 1622 may be a part of interface1614. RF transceiver circuitry 1622 may condition RF signals forprocessing circuitry 1620.

In certain embodiments, some or all of the functionality describedherein as being performed by a WD may be provided by processingcircuitry 1620 executing instructions stored on device readable medium1630, which in certain embodiments may be a computer-readable storagemedium. In alternative embodiments, some or all of the functionality maybe provided by processing circuitry 1620 without executing instructionsstored on a separate or discrete device readable storage medium, such asin a hard-wired manner. In any of those particular embodiments, whetherexecuting instructions stored on a device readable storage medium ornot, processing circuitry 1620 can be configured to perform thedescribed functionality. The benefits provided by such functionality arenot limited to processing circuitry 1620 alone or to other components ofWD 1610, but are enjoyed by WD 1610 as a whole, and/or by end users andthe wireless network generally.

Processing circuitry 1620 may be configured to perform any determining,calculating, or similar operations (e.g., certain obtaining operations)described herein as being performed by a WD. These operations, asperformed by processing circuitry 1620, may include processinginformation obtained by processing circuitry 1620 by, for example,converting the obtained information into other information, comparingthe obtained information or converted information to information storedby WD 1610, and/or performing one or more operations based on theobtained information or converted information, and as a result of saidprocessing making a determination.

Device readable medium 1630 may be operable to store a computer program,software, an application including one or more of logic, rules, code,tables, etc. and/or other instructions capable of being executed byprocessing circuitry 1620. Device readable medium 1630 may includecomputer memory (e.g., Random Access Memory (RAM) or Read Only Memory(ROM)), mass storage media (e.g., a hard disk), removable storage media(e.g., a Compact Disk (CD) or a Digital Video Disk (DVD)), and/or anyother volatile or non-volatile, non-transitory device readable and/orcomputer executable memory devices that store information, data, and/orinstructions that may be used by processing circuitry 1620. In someembodiments, processing circuitry 1620 and device readable medium 1630may be considered to be integrated.

User interface equipment 1632 may provide components that allow for ahuman user to interact with WD 1610. Such interaction may be of manyforms, such as visual, audial, tactile, etc. User interface equipment1632 may be operable to produce output to the user and to allow the userto provide input to WD 1610. The type of interaction may vary dependingon the type of user interface equipment 1632 installed in WD 1610. Forexample, if WD 1610 is a smart phone, the interaction may be via a touchscreen; if WD 1610 is a smart meter, the interaction may be through ascreen that provides usage (e.g., the number of gallons used) or aspeaker that provides an audible alert (e.g., if smoke is detected).User interface equipment 1632 may include input interfaces, devices andcircuits, and output interfaces, devices and circuits. User interfaceequipment 1632 is configured to allow input of information into WD 1610,and is connected to processing circuitry 1620 to allow processingcircuitry 1620 to process the input information. User interfaceequipment 1632 may include, for example, a microphone, a proximity orother sensor, keys/buttons, a touch display, one or more cameras, a USBport, or other input circuitry. User interface equipment 1632 is alsoconfigured to allow output of information from WD 1610, and to allowprocessing circuitry 1620 to output information from WD 1610. Userinterface equipment 1632 may include, for example, a speaker, a display,vibrating circuitry, a USB port, a headphone interface, or other outputcircuitry. Using one or more input and output interfaces, devices, andcircuits, of user interface equipment 1632, WD 1610 may communicate withend users and/or the wireless network, and allow them to benefit fromthe functionality described herein.

Auxiliary equipment 1634 is operable to provide more specificfunctionality which may not be generally performed by WDs. This maycomprise specialized sensors for doing measurements for variouspurposes, interfaces for additional types of communication such as wiredcommunications etc. The inclusion and type of components of auxiliaryequipment 1634 may vary depending on the embodiment and/or scenario.

Power source 1636 may, in some embodiments, be in the form of a batteryor battery pack. Other types of power sources, such as an external powersource (e.g., an electricity outlet), photovoltaic devices or powercells, may also be used. WD 1610 may further comprise power circuitry1637 for delivering power from power source 1636 to the various parts ofWD 1610 which need power from power source 1636 to carry out anyfunctionality described or indicated herein. Power circuitry 1637 may incertain embodiments comprise power management circuitry. Power circuitry1637 may additionally or alternatively be operable to receive power froman external power source; in which case WD 1610 may be connectable tothe external power source (such as an electricity outlet) via inputcircuitry or an interface such as an electrical power cable. Powercircuitry 1637 may also in certain embodiments be operable to deliverpower from an external power source to power source 1636. This may be,for example, for the charging of power source 1636. Power circuitry 1637may perform any formatting, converting, or other modification to thepower from power source 1636 to make the power suitable for therespective components of WD 1610 to which power is supplied.

FIG. 25 illustrates one embodiment of a UE in accordance with variousaspects described herein. As used herein, a user equipment or UE may notnecessarily have a user in the sense of a human user who owns and/oroperates the relevant device. Instead, a UE may represent a device thatis intended for sale to, or operation by, a human user but which maynot, or which may not initially, be associated with a specific humanuser (e.g., a smart sprinkler controller). Alternatively, a UE mayrepresent a device that is not intended for sale to, or operation by, anend user but which may be associated with or operated for the benefit ofa user (e.g., a smart power meter). UE 1700 may be any UE identified bythe 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), including a NB-IoT UE, amachine type communication (MTC) UE, and/or an enhanced MTC (eMTC) UE.UE 1700, as illustrated in FIG. 25, is one example of a WD configuredfor communication in accordance with one or more communication standardspromulgated by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), such as3GPP's GSM, UMTS, LTE, and/or 5G standards. As mentioned previously, theterm WD and UE may be used interchangeable. Accordingly, although FIG.25 is a UE, the components discussed herein are equally applicable to aWD, and vice-versa.

In FIG. 25, UE 1700 includes processing circuitry 1701 that isoperatively coupled to input/output interface 1705, radio frequency (RF)interface 1709, network connection interface 1711, memory 1715 includingrandom access memory (RAM) 1717, read-only memory (ROM) 1719, andstorage medium 1721 or the like, communication subsystem 1731, powersource 1733, and/or any other component, or any combination thereof.Storage medium 1721 includes operating system 1723, application program1725, and data 1727. In other embodiments, storage medium 1721 mayinclude other similar types of information. Certain UEs may utilize allof the components shown in FIG. 25, or only a subset of the components.The level of integration between the components may vary from one UE toanother UE. Further, certain UEs may contain multiple instances of acomponent, such as multiple processors, memories, transceivers,transmitters, receivers, etc.

In FIG. 25, processing circuitry 1701 may be configured to processcomputer instructions and data. Processing circuitry 1701 may beconfigured to implement any sequential state machine operative toexecute machine instructions stored as machine-readable computerprograms in the memory, such as one or more hardware-implemented statemachines (e.g., in discrete logic, FPGA, ASIC, etc.); programmable logictogether with appropriate firmware; one or more stored program,general-purpose processors, such as a microprocessor or Digital SignalProcessor (DSP), together with appropriate software; or any combinationof the above. For example, the processing circuitry 1701 may include twocentral processing units (CPUs). Data may be information in a formsuitable for use by a computer.

In the depicted embodiment, input/output interface 1705 may beconfigured to provide a communication interface to an input device,output device, or input and output device. UE 1700 may be configured touse an output device via input/output interface 1705. An output devicemay use the same type of interface port as an input device. For example,a USB port may be used to provide input to and output from UE 1700. Theoutput device may be a speaker, a sound card, a video card, a display, amonitor, a printer, an actuator, an emitter, a smartcard, another outputdevice, or any combination thereof. UE 1700 may be configured to use aninput device via input/output interface 1705 to allow a user to captureinformation into UE 1700. The input device may include a touch-sensitiveor presence-sensitive display, a camera (e.g., a digital camera, adigital video camera, a web camera, etc.), a microphone, a sensor, amouse, a trackball, a directional pad, a trackpad, a scroll wheel, asmartcard, and the like. The presence-sensitive display may include acapacitive or resistive touch sensor to sense input from a user. Asensor may be, for instance, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a tiltsensor, a force sensor, a magnetometer, an optical sensor, a proximitysensor, another like sensor, or any combination thereof. For example,the input device may be an accelerometer, a magnetometer, a digitalcamera, a microphone, and an optical sensor.

In FIG. 25, RF interface 1709 may be configured to provide acommunication interface to RF components such as a transmitter, areceiver, and an antenna. Network connection interface 1711 may beconfigured to provide a communication interface to network 1743 a.Network 1743 a may encompass wired and/or wireless networks such as alocal-area network (LAN), a wide-area network (WAN), a computer network,a wireless network, a telecommunications network, another like networkor any combination thereof. For example, network 1743 a may comprise aWi-Fi network. Network connection interface 1711 may be configured toinclude a receiver and a transmitter interface used to communicate withone or more other devices over a communication network according to oneor more communication protocols, such as Ethernet, TCP/IP, SONET, ATM,or the like. Network connection interface 1711 may implement receiverand transmitter functionality appropriate to the communication networklinks (e.g., optical, electrical, and the like). The transmitter andreceiver functions may share circuit components, software or firmware,or alternatively may be implemented separately.

RAM 1717 may be configured to interface via bus 1702 to processingcircuitry 1701 to provide storage or caching of data or computerinstructions during the execution of software programs such as theoperating system, application programs, and device drivers. ROM 1719 maybe configured to provide computer instructions or data to processingcircuitry 1701. For example, ROM 1719 may be configured to storeinvariant low-level system code or data for basic system functions suchas basic input and output (I/O), startup, or reception of keystrokesfrom a keyboard that are stored in a non-volatile memory. Storage medium1721 may be configured to include memory such as RAM, ROM, programmableread-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM),electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), magneticdisks, optical disks, floppy disks, hard disks, removable cartridges, orflash drives. In one example, storage medium 1721 may be configured toinclude operating system 1723, application program 1725 such as a webbrowser application, a widget or gadget engine or another application,and data file 1727. Storage medium 1721 may store, for use by UE 1700,any of a variety of various operating systems or combinations ofoperating systems.

Storage medium 1721 may be configured to include a number of physicaldrive units, such as redundant array of independent disks (RAID), floppydisk drive, flash memory, USB flash drive, external hard disk drive,thumb drive, pen drive, key drive, high-density digital versatile disc(HD-DVD) optical disc drive, internal hard disk drive, Blu-Ray opticaldisc drive, holographic digital data storage (HDDS) optical disc drive,external mini-dual in-line memory module (DIMM), synchronous dynamicrandom access memory (SDRAM), external micro-DIMM SDRAM, smartcardmemory such as a subscriber identity module or a removable user identity(SIM/RUIM) module, other memory, or any combination thereof. Storagemedium 1721 may allow UE 1700 to access computer-executableinstructions, application programs or the like, stored on transitory ornon-transitory memory media, to off-load data, or to upload data. Anarticle of manufacture, such as one utilizing a communication system maybe tangibly embodied in storage medium 1721, which may comprise a devicereadable medium.

In FIG. 25, processing circuitry 1701 may be configured to communicatewith network 1743 b using communication subsystem 1731. Network 1743 aand network 1743 b may be the same network or networks or differentnetwork or networks. Communication subsystem 1731 may be configured toinclude one or more transceivers used to communicate with network 1743b. For example, communication subsystem 1731 may be configured toinclude one or more transceivers used to communicate with one or moreremote transceivers of another device capable of wireless communicationsuch as another WD, UE, or base station of a radio access network (RAN)according to one or more communication protocols, such as IEEE 802.11,Code Division Multiplexing Access (CDMA), Wide CDMA (WCDMA), GSM, LTE,UTRAN, WiMax, or the like. Each transceiver may include transmitter 1733and/or receiver 1735 to implement transmitter or receiver functionality,respectively, appropriate to the RAN links (e.g., frequency allocationsand the like). Further, transmitter 1733 and receiver 1735 of eachtransceiver may share circuit components, software or firmware, oralternatively may be implemented separately.

In the illustrated embodiment, the communication functions ofcommunication subsystem 1731 may include data communication, voicecommunication, multimedia communication, short-range communications suchas Bluetooth, near-field communication, location-based communicationsuch as the use of the global positioning system (GPS) to determine alocation, another like communication function, or any combinationthereof. For example, communication subsystem 1731 may include cellularcommunication, Wi-Fi communication, Bluetooth communication, and GPScommunication. Network 1743 b may encompass wired and/or wirelessnetworks such as a local-area network (LAN), a wide-area network (WAN),a computer network, a wireless network, a telecommunications network,another like network or any combination thereof. For example, network1743 b may be a cellular network, a Wi-Fi network, and/or a near-fieldnetwork. Power source 1713 may be configured to provide alternatingcurrent (AC) or direct current (DC) power to components of UE 1700.

The features, benefits and/or functions described herein may beimplemented in one of the components of UE 1700 or partitioned acrossmultiple components of UE 1700. Further, the features, benefits, and/orfunctions described herein may be implemented in any combination ofhardware, software or firmware. In one example, communication subsystem1731 may be configured to include any of the components describedherein. Further, processing circuitry 1701 may be configured tocommunicate with any of such components over bus 1702. In anotherexample, any of such components may be represented by programinstructions stored in memory that when executed by processing circuitry1701 perform the corresponding functions described herein. In anotherexample, the functionality of any of such components may be partitionedbetween processing circuitry 1701 and communication subsystem 1731. Inanother example, the non-computationally intensive functions of any ofsuch components may be implemented in software or firmware and thecomputationally intensive functions may be implemented in hardware.

FIG. 26 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a virtualizationenvironment 1800 in which functions implemented by some embodiments maybe virtualized. In the present context, virtualizing means creatingvirtual versions of apparatuses or devices which may includevirtualizing hardware platforms, storage devices and networkingresources. As used herein, virtualization can be applied to a node(e.g., a virtualized base station or a virtualized radio access node) orto a device (e.g., a UE, a wireless device or any other type ofcommunication device) or components thereof and relates to animplementation in which at least a portion of the functionality isimplemented as one or more virtual components (e.g., via one or moreapplications, components, functions, virtual machines or containersexecuting on one or more physical processing nodes in one or morenetworks).

In some embodiments, some or all of the functions described herein maybe implemented as virtual components executed by one or more virtualmachines implemented in one or more virtual environments 1800 hosted byone or more of hardware nodes 1830. Further, in embodiments in which thevirtual node is not a radio access node or does not require radioconnectivity (e.g., a core network node), then the network node may beentirely virtualized.

The functions may be implemented by one or more applications 1820 (whichmay alternatively be called software instances, virtual appliances,network functions, virtual nodes, virtual network functions, etc.)operative to implement some of the features, functions, and/or benefitsof some of the embodiments disclosed herein. Applications 1820 are runin virtualization environment 1800 which provides hardware 1830comprising processing circuitry 1860 and memory 1890. Memory 1890contains instructions 1895 executable by processing circuitry 1860whereby application 1820 is operative to provide one or more of thefeatures, benefits, and/or functions disclosed herein.

Virtualization environment 1800, comprises general-purpose orspecial-purpose network hardware devices 1830 comprising a set of one ormore processors or processing circuitry 1860, which may be commercialoff-the-shelf (COTS) processors, dedicated Application SpecificIntegrated Circuits (ASICs), or any other type of processing circuitryincluding digital or analog hardware components or special purposeprocessors. Each hardware device may comprise memory 1890-1 which may benon-persistent memory for temporarily storing instructions 1895 orsoftware executed by processing circuitry 1860. Each hardware device maycomprise one or more network interface controllers (NICs) 1870, alsoknown as network interface cards, which include physical networkinterface 1880. Each hardware device may also include non-transitory,persistent, machine-readable storage media 1890-2 having stored thereinsoftware 1895 and/or instructions executable by processing circuitry1860. Software 1895 may include any type of software including softwarefor instantiating one or more virtualization layers 1850 (also referredto as hypervisors), software to execute virtual machines 1840 as well assoftware allowing it to execute functions, features and/or benefitsdescribed in relation with some embodiments described herein.

Virtual machines 1840, comprise virtual processing, virtual memory,virtual networking or interface and virtual storage, and may be run by acorresponding virtualization layer 1850 or hypervisor. Differentembodiments of the instance of virtual appliance 1820 may be implementedon one or more of virtual machines 1840, and the implementations may bemade in different ways.

During operation, processing circuitry 1860 executes software 1895 toinstantiate the hypervisor or virtualization layer 1850, which maysometimes be referred to as a virtual machine monitor (VMM).Virtualization layer 1850 may present a virtual operating platform thatappears like networking hardware to virtual machine 1840.

As shown in FIG. 26, hardware 1830 may be a standalone network node withgeneric or specific components. Hardware 1830 may comprise antenna 18225and may implement some functions via virtualization. Alternatively,hardware 1830 may be part of a larger cluster of hardware (e.g. such asin a data center or customer premise equipment (CPE)) where manyhardware nodes work together and are managed via management andorchestration (MANO) 18100, which, among others, oversees lifecyclemanagement of applications 1820.

Virtualization of the hardware is in some contexts referred to asnetwork function virtualization (NFV). NFV may be used to consolidatemany network equipment types onto industry standard high volume serverhardware, physical switches, and physical storage, which can be locatedin data centers, and customer premise equipment.

In the context of NFV, virtual machine 1840 may be a softwareimplementation of a physical machine that runs programs as if they wereexecuting on a physical, non-virtualized machine. Each of virtualmachines 1840, and that part of hardware 1830 that executes that virtualmachine, be it hardware dedicated to that virtual machine and/orhardware shared by that virtual machine with others of the virtualmachines 1840, forms a separate virtual network elements (VNE).

Still in the context of NFV, Virtual Network Function (VNF) isresponsible for handling specific network functions that run in one ormore virtual machines 1840 on top of hardware networking infrastructure1830 and corresponds to application 1820 in FIG. 26.

In some embodiments, one or more radio units 1820 that each include oneor more transmitters 1822 and one or more receivers 1821 may be coupledto one or more antennas 1825. Radio units 1820 may communicate directlywith hardware nodes 1830 via one or more appropriate network interfacesand may be used in combination with the virtual components to provide avirtual node with radio capabilities, such as a radio access node or abase station.

In some embodiments, some signalling can be effected with the use ofcontrol system 1823 which may alternatively be used for communicationbetween the hardware nodes 1830 and radio units 1820.

FIG. 27 illustrates a telecommunication network connected via anintermediate network to a host computer in accordance with someembodiments. In particular, with reference to FIG. 27, in accordancewith an embodiment, a communication system includes telecommunicationnetwork 1910, such as a 3GPP-type cellular network, which comprisesaccess network 1911, such as a radio access network, and core network1914. Access network 1911 comprises a plurality of base stations 1912 a,1912 b, 1912 c, such as NBs, eNBs, gNBs or other types of wirelessaccess points, each defining a corresponding coverage area 1913 a, 1913b, 1913 c. Each base station 1912 a, 1912 b, 1912 c is connectable tocore network 1914 over a wired or wireless connection 1915. A first UE1991 located in coverage area 1913 c is configured to wirelessly connectto, or be paged by, the corresponding base station 1912 c. A second UE1992 in coverage area 1913 a is wirelessly connectable to thecorresponding base station 1912 a. While a plurality of UEs 1991, 1992are illustrated in this example, the disclosed embodiments are equallyapplicable to a situation where a sole UE is in the coverage area orwhere a sole UE is connecting to the corresponding base station 1912.

Telecommunication network 1910 is itself connected to host computer1930, which may be embodied in the hardware and/or software of astandalone server, a cloud-implemented server, a distributed server oras processing resources in a server farm. Host computer 1930 may beunder the ownership or control of a service provider, or may be operatedby the service provider or on behalf of the service provider.Connections 1921 and 1922 between telecommunication network 1910 andhost computer 1930 may extend directly from core network 1914 to hostcomputer 1930 or may go via an optional intermediate network 1920.Intermediate network 1920 may be one of, or a combination of more thanone of, a public, private or hosted network; intermediate network 1920,if any, may be a backbone network or the Internet; in particular,intermediate network 1920 may comprise two or more sub-networks (notshown).

The communication system of FIG. 27 as a whole enables connectivitybetween the connected UEs 1991, 1992 and host computer 1930. Theconnectivity may be described as an over-the-top (OTT) connection 1950.Host computer 1930 and the connected UEs 1991, 1992 are configured tocommunicate data and/or signaling via OTT connection 1950, using accessnetwork 1911, core network 1914, any intermediate network 1920 andpossible further infrastructure (not shown) as intermediaries. OTTconnection 1950 may be transparent in the sense that the participatingcommunication devices through which OTT connection 1950 passes areunaware of routing of uplink and downlink communications. For example,base station 1912 may not or need not be informed about the past routingof an incoming downlink communication with data originating from hostcomputer 1930 to be forwarded (e.g., handed over) to a connected UE1991. Similarly, base station 1912 need not be aware of the futurerouting of an outgoing uplink communication originating from the UE 1991towards the host computer 1930.

Example implementations, in accordance with an embodiment, of the UE,base station and host computer discussed in the preceding paragraphswill now be described with reference to FIG. 28. FIG. 28 illustrateshost computer communicating via a base station with a user equipmentover a partially wireless connection in accordance with some embodimentsIn communication system 2000, host computer 2010 comprises hardware 2015including communication interface 2016 configured to set up and maintaina wired or wireless connection with an interface of a differentcommunication device of communication system 2000. Host computer 2010further comprises processing circuitry 2018, which may have storageand/or processing capabilities. In particular, processing circuitry 2018may comprise one or more programmable processors, application-specificintegrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays or combinations ofthese (not shown) adapted to execute instructions. Host computer 2010further comprises software 2011, which is stored in or accessible byhost computer 2010 and executable by processing circuitry 2018. Software2011 includes host application 2012. Host application 2012 may beoperable to provide a service to a remote user, such as UE 2030connecting via OTT connection 2050 terminating at UE 2030 and hostcomputer 2010. In providing the service to the remote user, hostapplication 2012 may provide user data which is transmitted using OTTconnection 2050.

Communication system 2000 further includes base station 2020 provided ina telecommunication system and comprising hardware 2025 enabling it tocommunicate with host computer 2010 and with UE 2030. Hardware 2025 mayinclude communication interface 2026 for setting up and maintaining awired or wireless connection with an interface of a differentcommunication device of communication system 2000, as well as radiointerface 2027 for setting up and maintaining at least wirelessconnection 2070 with UE 2030 located in a coverage area (not shown inFIG. 28) served by base station 2020. Communication interface 2026 maybe configured to facilitate connection 2060 to host computer 2010.Connection 2060 may be direct or it may pass through a core network (notshown in FIG. 28) of the telecommunication system and/or through one ormore intermediate networks outside the telecommunication system. In theembodiment shown, hardware 2025 of base station 2020 further includesprocessing circuitry 2028, which may comprise one or more programmableprocessors, application-specific integrated circuits, field programmablegate arrays or combinations of these (not shown) adapted to executeinstructions. Base station 2020 further has software 2021 storedinternally or accessible via an external connection.

Communication system 2000 further includes UE 2030 already referred to.Its hardware 2035 may include radio interface 2037 configured to set upand maintain wireless connection 2070 with a base station serving acoverage area in which UE 2030 is currently located. Hardware 2035 of UE2030 further includes processing circuitry 2038, which may comprise oneor more programmable processors, application-specific integratedcircuits, field programmable gate arrays or combinations of these (notshown) adapted to execute instructions. UE 2030 further comprisessoftware 2031, which is stored in or accessible by UE 2030 andexecutable by processing circuitry 2038. Software 2031 includes clientapplication 2032. Client application 2032 may be operable to provide aservice to a human or non-human user via UE 2030, with the support ofhost computer 2010. In host computer 2010, an executing host application2012 may communicate with the executing client application 2032 via OTTconnection 2050 terminating at UE 2030 and host computer 2010. Inproviding the service to the user, client application 2032 may receiverequest data from host application 2012 and provide user data inresponse to the request data. OTT connection 2050 may transfer both therequest data and the user data. Client application 2032 may interactwith the user to generate the user data that it provides.

It is noted that host computer 2010, base station 2020 and UE 2030illustrated in FIG. 28 may be similar or identical to host computer1930, one of base stations 1912 a, 1912 b, 1912 c and one of UEs 1991,1992 of FIG. 27, respectively. This is to say, the inner workings ofthese entities may be as shown in FIG. 28 and independently, thesurrounding network topology may be that of FIG. 27.

In FIG. 28, OTT connection 2050 has been drawn abstractly to illustratethe communication between host computer 2010 and UE 2030 via basestation 2020, without explicit reference to any intermediary devices andthe precise routing of messages via these devices. Networkinfrastructure may determine the routing, which it may be configured tohide from UE 2030 or from the service provider operating host computer2010, or both. While OTT connection 2050 is active, the networkinfrastructure may further take decisions by which it dynamicallychanges the routing (e.g., on the basis of load balancing considerationor reconfiguration of the network).

Wireless connection 2070 between UE 2030 and base station 2020 is inaccordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughoutthis disclosure. One or more of the various embodiments improve theperformance of OTT services provided to UE 2030 using OTT connection2050, in which wireless connection 2070 forms the last segment. Moreprecisely, the teachings of these embodiments may improve latency and/orpower consumption and thereby provide benefits such as reduced user waittime, quicker handover between cells, faster random access, and/orextended battery life.

A measurement procedure may be provided for the purpose of monitoringdata rate, latency and other factors on which the one or moreembodiments improve. There may further be an optional networkfunctionality for reconfiguring OTT connection 2050 between hostcomputer 2010 and UE 2030, in response to variations in the measurementresults. The measurement procedure and/or the network functionality forreconfiguring OTT connection 2050 may be implemented in software 2011and hardware 2015 of host computer 2010 or in software 2031 and hardware2035 of UE 2030, or both. In embodiments, sensors (not shown) may bedeployed in or in association with communication devices through whichOTT connection 2050 passes; the sensors may participate in themeasurement procedure by supplying values of the monitored quantitiesexemplified above, or supplying values of other physical quantities fromwhich software 2011, 2031 may compute or estimate the monitoredquantities. The reconfiguring of OTT connection 2050 may include messageformat, retransmission settings, preferred routing etc.; thereconfiguring need not affect base station 2020, and it may be unknownor imperceptible to base station 2020. Such procedures andfunctionalities may be known and practiced in the art. In certainembodiments, measurements may involve proprietary UE signalingfacilitating host computer 2010's measurements of throughput,propagation times, latency and the like. The measurements may beimplemented in that software 2011 and 2031 causes messages to betransmitted, in particular empty or ‘dummy’ messages, using OTTconnection 2050 while it monitors propagation times, errors etc.

FIG. 29 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented in acommunication system, in accordance with one embodiment. Thecommunication system includes a host computer, a base station and a UEwhich may be those described with reference to FIGS. 27 and 28. Forsimplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references to FIG. 29will be included in this section. In step 2110, the host computerprovides user data. In substep 2111 (which may be optional) of step2110, the host computer provides the user data by executing a hostapplication. In step 2120, the host computer initiates a transmissioncarrying the user data to the UE. In step 2130 (which may be optional),the base station transmits to the UE the user data which was carried inthe transmission that the host computer initiated, in accordance withthe teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure.In step 2140 (which may also be optional), the UE executes a clientapplication associated with the host application executed by the hostcomputer.

FIG. 30 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented in acommunication system, in accordance with one embodiment. Thecommunication system includes a host computer, a base station and a UEwhich may be those described with reference to FIGS. 27 and 28. Forsimplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references to FIG. 30will be included in this section. In step 2210 of the method, the hostcomputer provides user data. In an optional substep (not shown) the hostcomputer provides the user data by executing a host application. In step2220, the host computer initiates a transmission carrying the user datato the UE. The transmission may pass via the base station, in accordancewith the teachings of the embodiments described throughout thisdisclosure. In step 2230 (which may be optional), the UE receives theuser data carried in the transmission.

FIG. 31 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented in acommunication system, in accordance with one embodiment. Thecommunication system includes a host computer, a base station and a UEwhich may be those described with reference to FIGS. 27 and 28. Forsimplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references to FIG. 31will be included in this section. In step 2310 (which may be optional),the UE receives input data provided by the host computer. Additionallyor alternatively, in step 2320, the UE provides user data. In substep2321 (which may be optional) of step 2320, the UE provides the user databy executing a client application. In substep 2311 (which may beoptional) of step 2310, the UE executes a client application whichprovides the user data in reaction to the received input data providedby the host computer. In providing the user data, the executed clientapplication may further consider user input received from the user.Regardless of the specific manner in which the user data was provided,the UE initiates, in substep 2330 (which may be optional), transmissionof the user data to the host computer. In step 2340 of the method, thehost computer receives the user data transmitted from the UE, inaccordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughoutthis disclosure.

FIG. 32 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented in acommunication system, in accordance with one embodiment. Thecommunication system includes a host computer, a base station and a UEwhich may be those described with reference to FIGS. 27 and 28. Forsimplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references to FIG. 32will be included in this section. In step 2410 (which may be optional),in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughoutthis disclosure, the base station receives user data from the UE. Instep 2420 (which may be optional), the base station initiatestransmission of the received user data to the host computer. In step2430 (which may be optional), the host computer receives the user datacarried in the transmission initiated by the base station.

In view of all of the above, embodiments of the present disclosureinclude any of the methods described above with respect to the wirelessdevice 120, further comprising providing user data, and forwarding theuser data to a host computer via the transmission to the base station110.

Embodiments of the present disclosure also include any of the methodsdescribed above with respect to the base station 110, further comprisingobtaining user data, and forwarding the user data to a host computer2010 or a wireless device 120.

Embodiments of the present disclosure also include a wireless device 120configured to perform any of the steps of any of the methods discussedherein with respect to the wireless device 120.

Embodiments of the present disclosure include a wireless device 120comprising processing circuitry configured to perform any of the stepsof any of the methods discussed herein with respect to the wirelessdevice 120, and power supply circuitry configured to supply power to thewireless device 120.

Embodiments of the present disclosure include a wireless device 120comprising processing circuitry and memory. The memory containsinstructions executable by the processing circuitry whereby the wirelessdevice 120 is configured to perform any of the steps of any of themethods discussed herein with respect to the wireless device 120.

Embodiments of the present disclosure include a user equipment (UE)comprising an antenna configured to send and receive wireless signals.The UE further comprises radio front-end circuitry connected to theantenna and to processing circuitry, and configured to condition signalscommunicated between the antenna and the processing circuitry. Theprocessing circuitry is configured to perform any of the steps of any ofthe methods discussed herein with respect to the wireless device 120.The UE further comprises an input interface connected to the processingcircuitry and configured to allow input of information into the UE to beprocessed by the processing circuitry. The UE further comprises anoutput interface connected to the processing circuitry and configured tooutput information from the UE that has been processed by the processingcircuitry. The UE further comprises a battery connected to theprocessing circuitry and configured to supply power to the UE.

Embodiments of the present disclosure include a computer programcomprising instructions which, when executed by at least one processorof a wireless device 120, causes the wireless device 120 to carry outthe steps of any of the methods discussed herein with respect to thewireless device 120. Embodiments of the present disclosure include acarrier containing such a computer program, wherein the carrier is oneof an electronic signal, optical signal, radio signal, or computerreadable storage medium.

Embodiments of the present disclosure include a base station 110configured to perform any of the steps of any of the methods describedherein with respect to the base station 110.

Embodiments of the present disclosure include a base station 110comprising processing circuitry configured to perform any of the stepsof any of the methods described herein with respect to the base station110, and power supply circuitry configured to supply power to the basestation 110.

Embodiments of the present disclosure include a base station 110comprising processing circuitry and memory. The memory containsinstructions executable by the processing circuitry whereby the basestation 110 is configured to perform any of the steps of any of themethods described herein with respect to the base station 110.

Embodiments of the present disclosure include a computer programcomprising instructions which, when executed by at least one processorof a base station 110, causes the base station 110 to carry out thesteps of any of the methods described herein with respect to the basestation 110. Embodiments of the present disclosure include a carriercontaining such a computer program, wherein the carrier is one of anelectronic signal, optical signal, radio signal, or computer readablestorage medium.

Embodiments of the present disclosure include a communication systemincluding a host computer comprising processing circuitry configured toprovide user data, and a communication interface configured to forwardthe user data to a cellular network for transmission to a user equipment(UE). The cellular network comprises a base station 110 having a radiointerface and processing circuitry. The base station's processingcircuitry is configured to perform any of the steps of any of the basestation methods disclosed herein. In some embodiments, the communicationsystem further includes the base station. In some embodiments, thecommunication system further includes the UE, wherein the UE isconfigured to communicate with the base station 110. In someembodiments, the processing circuitry of the host computer is configuredto execute a host application, thereby providing the user data, and theUE comprises processing circuitry configured to execute a clientapplication associated with the host application.

Embodiments of the present disclosure further include a methodimplemented in a communication system including a host computer, a basestation and a user equipment (UE). The method comprises, at the hostcomputer, providing user data, and initiating a transmission carryingthe user data to the UE via a cellular network comprising the basestation, wherein the base station performs any of the steps of any ofthe base station methods described herein. In some embodiments, themethod further comprises, at the base station 110, transmitting the userdata. In some embodiments, the user data is provided at the hostcomputer by executing a host application, and the method furthercomprises, at the UE, executing a client application associated with thehost application. Embodiments of the present disclosure further includethe user equipment (UE) configured to communicate with the base station.

Embodiments of the present disclosure include a communication systemincluding a host computer comprising processing circuitry configured toprovide user data, and a communication interface configured to forwarduser data to a cellular network for transmission to a user equipment(UE). The UE comprises a radio interface and processing circuitry. TheUE's components are configured to perform any of the steps of any of thewireless device 120 methods described herein. In some embodiments, thecellular network further includes a base station 110 configured tocommunicate with the UE. In some embodiments, the processing circuitryof the host computer is configured to execute a host application,thereby providing the user data, and the UE's processing circuitry isconfigured to execute a client application associated with the hostapplication.

Embodiments of the present disclosure include a method implemented in acommunication system including a host computer, a base station and auser equipment (UE). The method comprises, at the host computer,providing user data and initiating a transmission carrying the user datato the UE via a cellular network comprising the base station. The UEperforms any of the steps of any of the methods described herein withrespect to the wireless device 120. In some embodiments, the methodfurther comprises at the UE, receiving the user data from the basestation.

Embodiments of the present disclosure include a communication systemincluding a host computer comprising a communication interfaceconfigured to receive user data originating from a transmission from auser equipment (UE) to a base station. The UE comprises a radiointerface and processing circuitry. The UE's processing circuitryconfigured to perform any of the steps of any of the methods describedherein with respect to the wireless device 120. In some embodiments, thecommunication system further includes the UE. In some embodiments, thecommunication system further includes the base station. The base stationcomprises a radio interface configured to communicate with the UE and acommunication interface configured to forward to the host computer theuser data carried by a transmission from the UE to the base station. Insome embodiments, the processing circuitry of the host computer isconfigured to execute a host application, and the UE's processingcircuitry is configured to execute a client application associated withthe host application, thereby providing the user data. In someembodiments, the processing circuitry of the host computer is configuredto execute a host application, thereby providing request data, and theUE's processing circuitry is configured to execute a client applicationassociated with the host application, thereby providing the user data inresponse to the request data.

Embodiments of the present disclosure include a method implemented in acommunication system including a host computer, a base station 110 and auser equipment (UE). The method comprises, at the host computer,receiving user data transmitted to the base station 110 from the UE. TheUE performs any of the steps of any of the methods described herein withrespect to the wireless device 120. In some embodiments, the methodfurther comprises, at the UE, providing the user data to the basestation. In some embodiments, the method further comprises, at the UE,executing a client application, thereby providing the user data to betransmitted, and, at the host computer, executing a host applicationassociated with the client application. In some embodiments, the methodfurther comprises, at the UE, executing a client application, and, atthe UE, receiving input data to the client application. The input datais provided at the host computer by executing a host applicationassociated with the client application. The user data to be transmittedis provided by the client application in response to the input data.

Embodiments of the present disclosure include a communication systemincluding a host computer comprising a communication interfaceconfigured to receive user data originating from a transmission from auser equipment (UE) to a base station 110, wherein the base station 110comprises a radio interface and processing circuitry, the base station'sprocessing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of any ofthe method described herein with respect to the base station 110. Insome embodiments, the communication system further includes the basestation 110. In some embodiments, the communication system furtherincluding the UE, wherein the UE is configured to communicate with thebase station 110. In some embodiments, the processing circuitry of thehost computer is configured to execute a host application, and the UE isconfigured to execute a client application associated with the hostapplication, thereby providing the user data to be received by the hostcomputer.

Embodiments of the present disclosure include a method implemented in acommunication system including a host computer, a base station and auser equipment (UE). The method comprises, at the host computer,receiving, from the base station, user data originating from atransmission which the base station has received from the UE. The UEperforms any of the steps of any of the methods described herein withrespect to a wireless device 120. In some embodiments, the methodfurther comprises, at the base station, receiving the user data from theUE. In some embodiments, the method further comprises, at the basestation, initiating a transmission of the received user data to the hostcomputer.

Any appropriate steps, methods, features, functions, or benefitsdisclosed herein may be performed through one or more functional unitsor modules of one or more virtual apparatuses. Each virtual apparatusmay comprise a number of these functional units. These functional unitsmay be implemented via processing circuitry, which may include one ormore microprocessor or microcontrollers, as well as other digitalhardware, which may include digital signal processors (DSPs),special-purpose digital logic, and the like. The processing circuitrymay be configured to execute program code stored in memory, which mayinclude one or several types of memory such as read-only memory (ROM),random-access memory (RAM), cache memory, flash memory devices, opticalstorage devices, etc. Program code stored in memory includes programinstructions for executing one or more telecommunications and/or datacommunications protocols as well as instructions for carrying out one ormore of the techniques described herein. In some implementations, theprocessing circuitry may be used to cause the respective functional unitto perform corresponding functions according one or more embodiments ofthe present disclosure.

Generally, all terms used herein are to be interpreted according totheir ordinary meaning in the relevant technical field, unless adifferent meaning is clearly given and/or is implied from the context inwhich it is used. All references to a/an/the element, apparatus,component, means, step, etc. are to be interpreted openly as referringto at least one instance of the element, apparatus, component, means,step, etc., unless explicitly stated otherwise. The steps of any methodsdisclosed herein do not have to be performed in the exact orderdisclosed, unless a step is explicitly described as following orpreceding another step and/or where it is implicit that a step mustfollow or precede another step. Any feature of any of the embodimentsdisclosed herein may be applied to any other embodiment, whereverappropriate. Likewise, any advantage of any of the embodiments may applyto any other embodiments, and vice versa. Other objectives, features andadvantages of the enclosed embodiments will be apparent from thedescription.

The term unit may have conventional meaning in the field of electronics,electrical devices and/or electronic devices and may include, forexample, electrical and/or electronic circuitry, devices, modules,processors, memories, logic solid state and/or discrete devices,computer programs or instructions for carrying out respective tasks,procedures, computations, outputs, and/or displaying functions, and soon, as such as those that are described herein.

Some of the embodiments contemplated herein are described more fullywith reference to the accompanying drawings. Other embodiments, however,are contained within the scope of the subject matter disclosed herein.The disclosed subject matter should not be construed as limited to onlythe embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are providedby way of example to convey the scope of the subject matter to thoseskilled in the art.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method performed by a wireless device, themethod comprising: receiving a resource grant indicating a plurality ofoptions for transmitting user data on an uplink during random access,each respective option comprising a transport block size (TBS) and anumber of repetitions, wherein: one of the TBSs is a maximum permittedTBS and the other TBSs are derived from the maximum permitted TBS usinga predefined set of smaller TBS values; and the number of repetitions ofeach option is determined as a function of the maximum permitted TBS anda corresponding number of repetitions; and transmitting the user data onthe uplink during random access to a base station according to at leastone of the options.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprisingreceiving a time offset index indicating an amount of time betweentransmission start times respectively corresponding to the options. 3.The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a frequency offsetindex indicating an amount of frequency between transmission frequenciesrespectively corresponding to the options.
 4. The method of claim 1,further comprising using a predefined formula to calculate a firstoption of the plurality of options from a second option of the pluralityof options.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of optionsare a subset of a plurality of predefined options for the transmittingof the user data on the uplink during random access, and the methodfurther comprises receiving an indication of how many options are in thesubset via cell-specific signalling or via non-cell specific SystemInformation broadcast.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the maximumpermitted TBS is one of a plurality of maximum permitted TBSs, each ofwhich corresponds to a respective coverage enhancement level.
 7. Themethod of claim 1, wherein each respective option further comprises anumber of resource units and/or physical resource blocks correspondingto the TBS of the option.
 8. A method performed by a base station, themethod comprising: transmitting a resource grant indicating a pluralityof options from which a wireless device is permitted to select for usein transmitting user data on an uplink during random access, eachrespective option comprising a transport block size (TBS) and a numberof repetitions, wherein: one of the TBSs is a maximum permitted TBS andthe other TBSs are derived from the maximum permitted TBS using apredefined set of smaller TBS values; and the number of repetitions ofeach option is determined as a function of the maximum permitted TBS anda corresponding number of repetitions; receiving the user data on theuplink during the random access according to at least one of theoptions.
 9. The method of claim 8, further comprising determining amodulation and coding index for the resource grant based on channelconditions, a number of Msg3 grants supported by the base station,and/or a size predefined for transmitting during random access.
 10. Themethod of claim 8, further comprising transmitting a time offset indexindicating an amount of time between transmission start timesrespectively corresponding to the options.
 11. The method of claim 8,further comprising transmitting a frequency offset index indicating anamount of frequency between transmission frequencies respectivelycorresponding to the options.
 12. The method of claim 8, wherein theplurality of options are a subset of a plurality of predefined optionsfor the transmitting of the user data on the uplink during randomaccess, and the method further comprises transmitting an indication ofhow many options are in the subset via cell-specific signalling or vianon-cell specific System Information broadcast.
 13. The method of claim8, wherein the maximum permitted TBS is one of a plurality of maximumpermitted TBSs, each of which corresponds to a respective coverageenhancement level.
 14. The method of claim 8, wherein each respectiveoption further comprises a number of resource units and/or physicalresource blocks corresponding to the TBS of the option.
 15. A wirelessdevice comprising: communication circuitry configured to exchangeinformation with a base station; processing circuitry communicativelyconnected to the communication circuitry and configured to: receive, viathe communication circuitry, a resource grant indicating a plurality ofoptions for transmitting user data on an uplink during random access,each respective option comprising a transport block size (TBS) and anumber of repetitions, wherein: one of the TBSs is a maximum permittedTBS and the other TBSs are derived from the maximum permitted TBS usinga predefined set of smaller TBS values; and the number of repetitions ofeach option is determined as a function of the maximum permitted TBS anda corresponding number of repetitions; and transmit, via thecommunication circuitry, the user data on the uplink during randomaccess to the base station according to at least one of the options. 16.The wireless device of claim 15, wherein the processing circuitry isfurther configured to receive, via the communication circuitry, a timeoffset index indicating an amount of time between transmission starttimes respectively corresponding to the options.
 17. The wireless deviceof claim 15, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured toreceive, via the communication circuitry, a frequency offset indexindicating an amount of frequency between transmission frequenciesrespectively corresponding to the options.
 18. The wireless device ofclaim 15, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to usea predefined formula to calculate a first option of the plurality ofoptions from a second option of the plurality of options.
 19. Thewireless device of claim 15, wherein the plurality of options are asubset of a plurality of predefined options for transmitting the userdata on the uplink during random access, and the processing circuitry isfurther configured to receive, via the communication circuitry, anindication of how many options are in the subset via cell-specificsignalling or via non-cell specific System Information broadcast. 20.The wireless device of claim 15, wherein each respective option furthercomprises a number of resource units and/or physical resource blockscorresponding to the TBS of the option.
 21. A base station comprising:communication circuitry configured to exchange information with awireless device; processing circuitry communicatively connected to thecommunication circuitry and configured to: transmit, via thecommunication circuitry, a resource grant indicating a plurality ofoptions from which the wireless device is permitted to select for use intransmitting user data on an uplink during random access, eachrespective option comprising a transport block size (TBS) and a numberof repetitions, wherein: one of the TBSs is a maximum permitted TBS andthe other TBSs are derived from the maximum permitted TBS using apredefined set of smaller TBS values; and the number of repetitions ofeach option is determined as a function of the maximum permitted TBS anda corresponding number of repetitions; and receive, via thecommunication circuitry, the user data on the uplink during the randomaccess according to at least one of the options.
 22. The base station ofclaim 21, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured todetermine a modulation and coding index for the resource grant based onchannel conditions, a number of Msg3 grants supported by the basestation, and/or a size predefined for transmitting during random access.23. The base station of claim 21, wherein the processing circuitry isfurther configured to transmit, via the communication circuitry, a timeoffset index indicating an amount of time between transmission starttimes respectively corresponding to the options.
 24. The base station ofclaim 21, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured totransmit, via the communication circuitry, a frequency offset indexindicating an amount of frequency between transmission frequenciesrespectively corresponding to the options.
 25. The base station of claim21, wherein the plurality of options are a subset of a plurality ofpredefined options for the transmitting of the user data on the uplinkduring random access, and the processing circuitry is further configuredto transmit an indication of how many options are in the subset viacell-specific signalling or via non-cell specific System Informationbroadcast.
 26. The base station of claim 18, wherein each respectiveoption further comprises a number of resource units and/or physicalresource blocks corresponding to the TBS of the option.